Duel
by lil prongs chicky
Summary: sequel to Gone- “FIGHT HARDER! KILL HIM! END THIS!” “STOP! YOU’RE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF!” Two voices but Harry can only follow one.
1. Return to Grimmauld Place

Harry stood on the steps of Grimmauld place with Ron on his right side and Draco on his left. The Gryffindor sighed heavily as he stared up at the large door. Ron laid a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"You alright mate?" he asked.

Harry paused for a moment before nodding.

"Sure. I'm fine."

After another moment's hesitation, Harry reached forward and pushed the door open. All three boys burst into coughing fits as a thick cloud of dust and an odd odor slammed into them. Harry threw his right hand up in front of him and-thanks to all the practicing Ron, Dumbledore ,and Draco had helped him with- managed to conjure a shield big enough to cover all three of them. The boys glanced at each other uncertainly before stepping all the way into the house.

Ron flicked his wand and small torches burst into life, giving off just enough light for them to see a few feet down the hall.

"This looks inviting." Draco said sarcastically.

Harry and Ron snickered.

The trio did a quick sweep of the house with Harry holding a shield over them the entire time, and saw with despair that the rest of the house was in as terrible shape as the entrance hall. Ron noticed that Harry had completely avoided Sirius' room but didn't bother to comment.

"Alright I think we should start on the bottom floor and work our way up." Harry said.

"I think I'm having second thoughts about this whole thing." Draco admitted.

Ron laughed.

"Me too mate."

"Oh come on you two can't abandon me now." Harry said with a bit of pleading in his voice as he imagined cleaning the monstrous house alone.

Draco and Ron glanced at each other before nodding.

"Alright, I'll suffer here with you but if a better offer comes along, you two are on your own." Draco said.

The boys laughed and went outside after deciding to get a fresh start in the morning. Grimmauld place disappeared behind them as they walked back down the street.

"I'm hungry." Ron said. Harry rolled his eyes.

"When aren't you hungry?"

"While I'm eating." Ron answered firmly. Harry laughed.

"Fair enough. You're mum wanted us to visit right? While our stomachs are empty is as good as time as any."

Draco glanced at the boys but looked back down at his feet. Harry noticed this and draped an arm over Draco's shoulders.

"You have to try Mrs. Weasley's cooking. It's better than any Hogwart's feast." Harry said.

Draco nodded but didn't look at the boy.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

Draco's eyes flicked over to Ron and then back to his feet as. It took Harry a moment to comprehend that the Slytherin was worried about going to the Weasley house because of all the rude comments he'd made over the years. Harry sighed. He'd hoped that spending time with the Weasley kids in the hospital had made the Slytherin realize that risking his life for Ron's had completely wiped the slate clean.

"Don't worry about it mate. Everything will be fine. Besides you'll have to go to the Burrow anyway since we can't very well stay at Grimmauld Place at this point in time."

"I can stay at the Leaky Cauldron…."

"No. You will come to my house and you will like it. Now let's get food." Ron said.

Draco looked ready to argue but Harry shook his head. At that moment the trio arrived at the apparation point; the back of a dark alley where no self-preserving muggle would ever step foot.

"The longer we spend discussing this, the hungrier Ron will get and Ron gets a bit loopy when he's hungry." Harry said.

Draco glanced at the red head who smiled proudly.

"It's true."

Draco shrugged.

"I'm still not sure this is a good idea." He admitted.

"Only because it wasn't yours." Harry teased.

Draco shot him a half hearted glare before the two Gryffindors apparated away. With a final sigh, Draco followed suit.

--

Mrs. Weasley stood at the counter, watching a carrot slice itself into thin pieces while her husband sat at the table reading the paper and Ginny and Hermione talked excitedly. Movement outside the kitchen window caught Mrs. Weasley's eye.

"Oh girls, the boys are back." She said.

Ginny and Hermione looked up just as Ron pushed open the kitchen door followed by Harry and a very uncomfortable looking Draco.

"Hello boys. You're back soon." Mr. Weasley said brightly.

Harry nodded.

"We decided to start tomorrow. We've got a lot of work to do." He said.

"Plus I was hungry." Ron said.

"Well you're in luck. I've just about finished a pot of stew. Sit, sit make yourselves comfortable."

Ron sat beside Hermione and kissed her on the cheek. Harry took the spot beside Ginny and kissed her as well. Mr. Weasley folded up his paper and laid it in front of him.

"The _Daily Prophet's_ still printing stories about your return Harry." He said.

Harry groaned.

"Why? That was months ago."

"Well it seems that people have it set in their minds that they saw you while everyone thought you'd gone missing. The papers have been getting letter, after letter of 'eyewitness accounts'. Plus there's been letters to the editor with praise for another narrow escape. Draco and Ron are in there as well. Not only that but it seems one of the aurors that came with us that night sold information to the _Prophet._"

Draco, Ron, and Harry all stiffened slightly and looked at Mr. Weasley. Only those three. Dumbledore, and Fred knew that Harry had thought he was on the Dark side. No one else even knew he could do wandless magic since George gave him back his wand as soon as he was released out of the hospital. The boys had managed to make everyone think that Harry and Draco had been hurt in battle and that Ron had happened to come upon them. Ron had also told his family that Draco had been hurt trying to protect him which wasn't a complete lie but since he decided not to say that it was Harry who he was being protected from, it wasn't the whole truth either.

"It was just a load of balderdash if you ask me. He must have been hit with a confundus charm because this bloke insisted that he saw Harry strike down Draco and then start battling Ron." Mr. Weasley said.

Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione all shook their heads and laughed it off. Ron, Harry, and Draco struggled to do the same.

At that moment Mrs. Weasley realized that Draco still hadn't sat down at the table.

"Is something wrong dear?" she asked.

Mrs. Weasley had become quite taken with the Slytherin. She'd heard what he'd said about her to her children but Draco had been so polite and respectful to her face that she found it hard to be angry with him. Mrs. Weasley had also been able to see the glimmer of guilt in Draco's eyes and decided that she would try her best to make the Slytherin understand that the past was the past and all was forgiven.

Draco shifted on the balls of his feet when all attention fell on him. He hated acting so skittish but he was immensely uncomfortable around such a warm family. The only other person he'd ever known to act anything like this was his mother but even she didn't actually cook for him.

When the blonde didn't answer Mrs. Weasley poured the carrots into the steaming pot and walked over to him. She stepped behind him and after grabbing both of his shoulders lead, him to the empty spot on the other side of Ginny.

"There you are. Now who's hungry!" she said happily.

When everyone else raised their hands Draco lifted his slightly as well. Mrs. Weasley went over to the stew pot and used her wand to fill up seven bowls of steaming stew. The bowls floated onto the table in front of everyone and once Mrs. Weasley sat down, everyone dug in. Draco paused before and after the first bite.

"Do you not like the stew dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked when she noticed this.

"No actually." Draco took another spoonful. "This is great." He took a third bite. "Really, really great." He said.

Mrs. Weasley beamed while Harry and Ron shared a quick glance before continuing on their own soups.

The rest of the supper went by quickly. Draco offered a few words to the conversation but other than that kept mostly to himself. Harry and Ron laughed with their girlfriends and nearly started a food fight with the fresh baked rolls Mrs. Weasley made. Finally came the time when everyone was too full to move. Ron fell asleep on Hermione's shoulder and the rest barely spoke.

"Alright you lot. I'm going to wake you up bright and early in the morning so you can get yourselves over there and clean up your new house." Mrs. Weasley said.

Harry nodded slowly.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley."

"Yes ma'am thank you very much. Dinner was incredible." Draco said.

Mrs. Weasley patted both boys on the shoulders as she began to collect the dirty dishes. Hermione woke Ron and soon all the teens were making their way upstairs. Hermione would be staying in Ginny's room until she left for her study program. Draco, Ron, and Harry were all crammed into Ron's room since there were too many unidentifiable things in the twins' bedroom.

Ron was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Draco and Harry were tired but stayed up a while to talk.

"You know you don't have to be so uncomfortable around here. No body's holding anything against you." Harry said. He could just make out the outline of Draco nodding in the darkness.

"It's hard though. I've spent the past six years making fun of the Weasley's every chance that I got. I suppose it was because that's what my father and my friends expected of me but I still feel really guilty. If I had known how amazing Mrs. Weasley or this house was before I started making all those jokes, I would have never said a word." Draco whispered.

Harry grinned into the darkness.

"Yeah Ron really is lucky." He said.

Draco nodded again. The boys were silent for a while and soon the only sounds in the room were their heavy breathing coupled with Ron's random grunts.

Thanks for reading. Please review I love to hear from you. Let me know what you might want to see!!


	2. Fixin bonds

The next day Mrs. Weasley woke Harry, Ron, and Draco up a little after dawn. She waited as the boys dragged themselves downstairs.

"I made you three a big breakfast, to give you plenty of strength today. I remember how much work it was to clean up Grimmauld place the first time." She said knowingly.

Forty-five minutes later Harry, Ron, and Draco stood at the apparation point just outside the Burrow.

"Ready?" Ron asked.

"No." Draco said at the same time Harry said yes.

Ron laughed tiredly before apparating away. Harry went next and as always Draco went last.

The boys arrived at Grimmauld Place and Harry reminded them of the address so that the building would appear. A few moments later their house emerged and they walked in, each boy performing the bubble head charm when they were sure no muggles were watching.

"I love being able to do magic outside of school." Ron said.

Harry and Draco agreed.

"Alright I think we should start in the kitchen."

"Are we all going to stay in the same room?" Ron asked.

Harry thought a moment.

"Yeah I think that'd be a good idea. We can't be sure if there's any other dark magic objects lying around that we might have missed last time. I wouldn't want one of us getting hurt or something and not being able to call for help." He said.

"We're not little kids Harry. I think we can take care of ourselves." Draco said. He had no desire to wander the gigantic house alone but felt the need to speak a little since he'd been almost silent through breakfast.

The trio made their way into the kitchen and paused when they pushed open the door. Three years worth of dust had collected on every visible surface. There was odd bluish grey mold growing in every corner. The once silver sink was now black with dirt and grime. Harry spotted a large spider dangling in the corner and quickly blasted it before Ron saw it. As they went through the cabinets they saw rotten food that was molded beyond recognition. What Harry thought was a small loaf of moldy bread turned out to be a rather large rat. As it ran out of the room Harry turned to Ron and Draco who were looking at him with expressions of disgust.

"I think Kreacher died." Harry said.

The bluntness of the comment made Ron burst into laughter. Draco glanced at the red head.

"Who's Kreacher?" he asked.

"Only the rudest house elf in the world; he never actually did any work. He just kept hiding stuff in his little room right over here." Harry explained.

Harry walked over to where the house elf had called home and pulled open its doors. After the cloud of dust settled Harry looked in. It looked the same as it had before except for one glaring difference. Right on top of everything, in the middle of the small area was a picture Harry was positive hadn't been there before. He picked it up and cleaned the dust off the glass. His breath caught in his chest as he stood slowly, never taking his eyes off the picture. Surrounded by a silver frame was a picture of two boys, no older than Harry was now. In the photograph the boys had their arms draped over each other's shoulders and were waving one second, the next the boy with longer hair leapt into his friend's arms before falling to the ground when his friend dropped his arms. The boy who'd let his friend fall had jet black hair and round spectacles and had a smile Harry knew he would see if he were to smile into a mirror. That left no doubt in Harry's mind who the other boy must have been.

"What is it Har?" Ron asked from the other side of the kitchen. He and Draco had been watching their friend the entire time. When Harry spoke his voice was hoarse and slightly cracked.

"It's Sirius and my dad." He said.

Ron and Draco walked over and looked over Harry's shoulders at the picture in his hand.

"Where do you think Kreacher got it?" Ron asked.

Harry simply shrugged. He walked over to the kitchen table and cleared a small spot with a flick of his hand. He carefully set up the picture frame so that it stood on its own. Harry smiled as the scene played through again. After a minute he turned to his friends.

"Ready?" he asked.

Ron and Draco nodded.

"Alright I'll take care of the mold. Draco you can clear out the cabinets and Ron you can dust." Harry said.

The boys agreed and set to work. Even with magic, cleaning out the kitchen took a couple of hours. The mold refused to leave. Harry cut it, blasted it, and melted it and it still grew back, doubling in size with each reappearance. Finally it took a blasting curse from all three boys to get just one spot of mold to disappear and stay gone. Ron managed to finish all the dusting in the kitchen but had to start over when something in the cabinets exploded and sent dust and a greenish ooze all over the room. Luckily the boys had managed not to get hit but Draco still looked nauseous.

"I don't even want to know what that might have been." He said.

Ron waited until Draco and Harry finished the cabinets before beginning to clean the ooze off just in case something else decided to pop. When the kitchen was finally done the boys stood in the door way and examined their work. Harry draped an arm over each of his friend's shoulders.

"We're good." He said.

The other two agreed.

"What's next?" Ron asked.

"I'm thinking the living room." Harry said. "After we clean the whole house we can go back and decorate if we want."

The trio headed to the living room which wasn't in any better shape than the kitchen. The same stubborn mold grew on the couch, walls, and up from the floor. Layer after layer of dust made everything the same dark color. Spider webs made the ceiling look about two feet lower than it actually was.

Ron backed into the kitchen.

"Take care of the webs and I'll be back." He said before disappearing.

Harry shook his head and glanced at Draco.

"He's scared of spiders."

Draco nodded.

"I guessed as much."

The pair worked together to cut down the spider webs. At one point, Draco had cut a certain spot of webbing and no less than ten spiders the size of teacups rained down on him. Harry blasted them all off and Draco decided to move into the kitchen with Ron. Half an hour later Harry poked his head into the kitchen.

"You can come back now." He said, trying to suppress a smile.

Ron and Draco went back into the living room and worked with Harry to clean out up the rest of the room. When they discovered that the couch was invested with hundreds of spider eggs, Ron and Draco worked together to burn it. The rest of the room took another hour and half. When it was finally done the boys had to admit, it looked like a completely different room. Harry went into the kitchen and grabbed the picture which he put on the mantle above the fireplace.

"I'll move it to my room when I can." He said.

Draco and Ron nodded.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Harry and Ron looked at each other and then around the house in surprise.

"Where do you suppose she went?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged.

"I dunno." He said.

"What are you two talking about?" Draco asked.

"Sirius' mother put a picture of herself up by the stairs. When we were here three years ago the slightest sound would make her scream at the top of her lungs." Harry explained.

"Maybe she left when Sirius…" Ron said his voice trailing off. Harry nodded.

"Maybe." He said.

The doorbell rang again and the boys dropped their bubble head charms. Ron and Harry continued to wait for an earsplitting scream.

"Fine, I'll get it." Draco said heading for the door. A moment later he returned with Ginny and Hermione behind him.

"What are you two doing here?" Harry asked, hugging his girlfriend.

"We thought you boys could use some help." Hermione said. She looked around the living room.

"It looks like you're doing pretty well though." She said approvingly.

"Thanks." The boys chorused.

"We finished the kitchen too." Ron said.

The girls nodded.

"What's next?" Ginny asked.

"Well maybe you two can take the stairs and Ron, Draco, and I will start on the other rooms down here." Harry suggested.

The girls agreed. Hermione conjured a bucket of water and some rags for Ginny since the red head was still unable to perform magic outside of school. The pair headed for the stairs and Harry led the way to the first and biggest bedroom on the first floor.

"Who wants this room?" Harry asked.

"I do." Ron said. "It's really close to the kitchen."

Harry laughed.

"Okay. Ron's room it is." He said.

The boys cleaned this room in a little under an hour. Hermione and Ginny had finished shortly before the boys and offered to take care of the bathroom that was right next to Ron's room.

"Thanks." Ron said.

Within hours the smaller room and the hall closet were all clean as well. The group sat in a circle in the middle of the living room.

"We're doing pretty well. If we go to lunch now, come back, do the second floor before dinner, and get a start on the third floor or start decorating. Then leave the rest for tomorrow we should be able to move in by tomorrow night." Harry said.

Everyone agreed with the plan and decided to go back to the Burrow for some lunch and relaxation.

The next few days went by exactly as Harry had described. Grimmauld Place was completely transformed from dreary ghost of a house to an actual home. Harry had taken the second floor and Draco had the third. All three boys had decorated their own rooms alone but when it came time to take care of the kitchen, living room, and entrance area, none of them could agree on anything.

"I don't see why we can't use red." Harry said.

"Because it's too Gryffindor." Draco snapped. "Now green that's a very good option if I do say so myself."

Ron made a face.

"If we can't have Gryffindor you can't have Slytherin. Besides we're not in school anymore. I say we go with something else like orange." He said.

"Why orange?" Harry asked.

"Only because of the Chuddley Cannons." Ron said as if it were obvious. This time it was Harry and Draco's turn to refuse.

"There's no way I'm eating in an orange kitchen." Draco said.

"Then eat somewhere else." Ron suggested.

Harry flicked his hand. Gold paint covered the walls while red paint took over the cabinets, table, and trim. Harry crossed his arms and grinned proudly. Draco looked disgusted and Ron was shaking his head.

"There problem solved." Harry said.

"I don't think so Potter." Draco snapped. He waved his wand over his head and the gold was replaced with green while silver replaced the red, except on the trim which turned coal black. Draco beamed.

"I like it." He said.

"Too bad." Ron said.

He waved his own wand.

Orange covered everything in the kitchen.

"Much better." He said.

"For who? A pumpkin?" Harry asked. He flicked his hand and the kitchen turned back to red and gold.

"This is how the kitchen stays."

"No!" Ron and Draco shouted together. Draco waved his wand and the kitchen took on the green and silver of Slytherin.

"This is how it'll stay."

"You're both wrong!" Ron shouted. He transformed the kitchen orange.

"Red and gold!" Harry shouted.

"Silver and green!" Draco demanded.

"Orange!" Ron snapped.

Suddenly all three boys began firing color around the kitchen, trying to get their color scheme to be dominate. After a few minutes of this the kitchen door burst open and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione stepped in. All three of them gasped as they looked around the kitchen. Blotches of green, gold and orange covered the walls in random intervals. The floor was speckled in red and silver. Each cabinet was a different color and the table was a tie-dyed disaster.

"What in Merlin's name happened in here?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

The boys who were covered in paint themselves shrugged.

"Creative differences." Harry said.

The woman shook their heads and ushered the boys out of the kitchen.

"The kitchen is no place for men. You could hurt yourselves." Hermione said.

"You three go wait in the living room. We'll take it from here." Ginny ordered.

"But it's our kitchen!" Ron argued.

"You gave up your decorating privileges. Now shoo all of you." Mrs. Weasley said sternly. When the boys began to argue she fixed them with a no nonsense stare which sent the trio running for the living room.

When they finally finished Ginny poked her head in. She giggled slightly when she saw the still multi-colored boys sitting cross legged in the center of the living room. Their shoulders were hunched and their heads were low in defeat.

"Alright you three can come in now." She said.

Harry looked up and nodded. He glanced at his friends.

"What do you think they did?" he asked.

Draco shrugged.

"It's probably all pink and frilly," Ron said.

"with flowers and kittens everywhere." Draco added.

The boys stood sadly and nervously edged their way to the kitchen. Ron and Draco pushed Harry in front of them. The raven haired boy looked back at them one last time before pushing the kitchen door open. The boys walked in and stared around the room.

The floor had been polished to a brilliant shine. The counter tops had been transformed into shiny black marble. Black paint coated the trim and the walls were a clean, off white. All the cabinets were white with black squares in the center. The table in the center was polished as well and looked like a darker version of the floor it stood on.

"Wow." The one word was all the boys could manage.

Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley beamed.

"Do you like it?" Ginny asked.

"Wow." Harry said again.

"Everything's so…." Draco began.

"Shiny." Ron offered.

The blonde nodded.

Hermione walked over and hugged her boyfriend who finally thanked her. Ginny hugged Harry and Mrs. Weasley hugged Draco who looked uncomfortable but had to admit it felt good to be in a mother's embrace again.

"So are you three going to do the living room next?" Harry asked.

Everyone laughed but the women agreed saying it would be fun. This time the boys got a little more input and even got to pick the color of the new couch, the rug, and the color the rock around the fireplace would be.

Finally the entire house was done. Mrs. Weasley left the teenagers to congratulate themselves with what she thought was only butterbeer and pumpkin juice. Unbeknownst to her, Ron had called Fred and George. The twins supplied their little brother with a few bottles of firewhiskey which Ron kept hidden in his new room. It was these bottles that he now handed out to Hermione, Harry, and Draco. Ginny had to wrestle her own out of her brother's hand.

Harry and Draco had decided not to drink but the others were more than a little tipsy from their own drinks. Ron, the drunkest of them all after finishing off his own drink along with Harry's, looked around the room and smiled broadly.

"I love our house. It is….nice. Yup soft carpet." He said; stroking the rug the group was sitting on. Harry and Draco laughed. Suddenly Ron's eyes went wide and his mouth formed a perfect circle.

"OOoo I've an idea." He gushed.

"What's your idea?" Harry asked.

"We should have a party! We've a huge house, we gotta use it." Ron said taking a big swig out of his bottle. Hermione and Ginny squealed at the idea.

"Party!" Ginny said happily.

"That sounds like fun." Hermione said. She nodded and then stopped when the movement upset her head.

"I don't know if a party is such a good idea." Harry said uncertainly.

Hermione, Ginny, and Ron groaned loudly.

"Awww come on Haarr." Ron begged. He balanced himself on his knees and scooted forward until he was only a foot or so away from Harry. Ron threw a hand on each of Harry's shoulders and tried his hardest to stare Harry in the eye.

"It'll be fuuun. Lots of people, lots of food, actually lots and lots of food." Ron begged.

Harry turned his head away from his friend to get away from Ron's alcohol drenched breath. He looked at Draco who had shifted outside of the circle. He laid alone on the couch with one hand behind his head and the other resting across his stomach.

"What do you think Draco?" Harry asked.

The blonde shrugged but didn't speak. Ron nodded.

"He's okay with it." He said. "Pllllease." Ron begged.

"Please, please, please." Hermione and Ginny begged.

Ginny moved closer to her boyfriend and kissed his cheeks and neck after every please. Harry laughed and she stopped.

"Alright, you win. We'll have a party." Harry said.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny cheered excitedly.

"PARTY!" Ron shouted, taking a final swig of his drink before falling onto his back and passing out. Harry, Ginny, and Hermione laughed wildly but Draco stood and went upstairs. Harry watched him leave and decided he would visit the Slytherin after he got Ron into his own room.

Hermione and Ginny stood uneasily, bracing themselves on each other. Harry told them that it might be best if they stayed in the smaller room across from Ron's bedroom rather than face Mrs. Weasley. The girls agreed and made their slow, ungraceful way to their room. Hermione turned to Harry who was levitating his unconscious friend.

"Never again." She said firmly.

Harry nodded and laughed. Hermione shut the door and Harry dragged Ron into his room and plopped him on the bed. Ron grunted slightly in his sleep. Harry turned and with a twist of his wrist, summoned the rubbish bin to Ron's bedside. Harry stood and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Even though his brain begged to sleep, Harry knew he had one more thing to do before he could go to bed. He climbed the flights of stairs up to the third floor before pausing outside Draco's bedroom door. He knocked twice.

"Draco?" he called.

No response came but something told Harry that the blonde wasn't actually asleep. He pushed the door open. The room was dark but Harry knew what he would see if it weren't.

Draco had decided to paint one wall completely black and made the other three forest green. A single Slytherin banner hung above Draco's king sized bed which had a black comforter and with silver sheets and pillows. A desk sat in one corner next to a book case that went from floor to ceiling. A cauldron sat in the corner diagonal from the desk with potions ingredients lined neatly on shelves above it. The closet doors had been painted black as well. The floor was carpeted but still had a large green floor mat beside the bed. Harry knew there was another door somewhere in the room that would lead to Draco's bathroom.

"Draco?" Harry called again.

A light on one of the bedside tables that sat on either side of Draco's bed switched on. Draco was lying on his bed with a book open on his lap.

"How can you read in the dark?" Harry asked, walking the rest of the way into the room and shutting the door behind him.

"It wasn't dark until you came up." Draco answered.

"Do you want me to leave?" Harry asked.

"Would you if I asked." Draco challenged.

Harry blinked several times, surprised by the blonde's clipped tones.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked.

Draco closed the book and set it on the bed beside him.

"When you invited me to live here, you didn't say anything about drinking, or parties or people blowing in and out of this place whenever they bloody feel like it." He said sharply.

Harry shrugged.

"I didn't know about the parties and the alcohol wasn't mine but we are teenagers Draco. It happens."

Draco shook his head.

"Well if it's going to be a regular thing around here I'll pack my stuff now." He said.

Harry stared at Draco for a long moment. As the pair stood in silence pieces began to fall into place in Harry's mind.

"Your Dad drank didn't he?" he asked.

Draco looked up at him sharply.

"Where the bloody hell did that come from?" he snapped.

Harry shrugged and took a few steps farther into the room.

"Did he kill your mum while he was drunk?" Harry asked gently.

Draco glared hard at the teen but remained silent.

"If you don't want alcohol in the house, I'll talk to Ron and his brothers."

"You already agreed to have a party here. Do you really expect it to be clean? Like you said, we are teenagers." Draco argued.

"You don't have to be there. I think it would be good if you were though. I promise nothing's going to happen and if it gets too out of hand you can come up here or I'll have everyone leave." Harry said.

Draco looked away from the Gryffindor.

"I just won't be here at all. I'll spend the day in London and sleep at the Leaky Cauldron and be back the next morning." He said.

"Sure if that's what you want." Harry agreed. He turned to leave but turned back just as Draco was opening his book back up.

"Do you want to talk about her?" Harry asked.

Draco kept his gaze fixed on his book as he shook his head. Harry shrugged.

"Well if you need to talk…about anything…you know where to find me."

Harry left the room. Draco listened to the sound of his footsteps fading as the Gryffindor descended the stairs.

Review please


	3. Party on!

The party was going to be held the day after Ron made the suggestion since Hermione was scheduled to leave for her trip the day after that. To get his friends up and moving again, Harry made a trip to Fred and George's shop to ask the twins for some of their special hangover potion. They gave him the last of their supply free of charge.

Ginny took care of the invitations. She sent half of them off with Ron and Hermione so that they could drop them by the owl post when they went through London to get food. Ginny sent the rest of the invites with Hedwig. Harry stayed at Grimmauld Place and locked up all the rooms that he didn't want any people going into during the party. Draco went to London.

At nine o'clock that night Ginny glanced at the clock. The party was due to start any minute and she couldn't find her boyfriend anywhere. Ron was waiting at the rendezvous site where he would meet some of the guests so that he could lead them all to Grimmauld Place. Hermione was sitting by the fireplace waiting to allow people in through the floo.

"Have you seen Harry?" Ginny asked her friend.

Hermione nodded.

"He was in his room last I saw." She said.

Ginny thanked her and made her way towards the stairs. Once she made it to Harry's bedroom door she knocked softly before pushing the door open. She was always impressed by Harry's room. After the decorating fiasco in the kitchen she hadn't thought any of the boys was capable of good decorating. Harry's room had white walls with pictures, Gryffindor and professional quidditch banners and posters scattered all over the room. Harry's old quidditch robes were stuck on the wall above Harry's headboard. His ceiling was painted red and matched the scarlet colors of his bed sheets and door. There was a large desk in one corner with quills and parchment arranged on its surface. Old school books and a few Quidditch magazines took up the shelf space under each of the bedside tables. The carpet was a creamy white and made the gold trim and base boards stand out brilliantly.

"Harry?" Ginny called softly.

As she stepped into the room Ginny saw Harry sitting on his bed holding the picture of Sirius and James. The raven haired boy didn't even notice as Ginny entered the room and still didn't look up when she slid onto the bed next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. For a moment the pair was silent and simply watched the scene play over and over in the picture. Harry sighed heavily after the fifth time.

"I miss them." He whispered.

Ginny nodded into his shoulder.

"I know." She said softly.

The pair fell silent again.

"I still haven't gone into his room." Harry admitted.

Ginny shifted so that she could see his face.

"You have plenty of time. Just do it when you think you're ready. I can come with you if you like." She offered.

Harry paused before shaking his head once.

"I think this might be something I need to do on my own." He said.

Ginny nodded.

"I understand."

Suddenly they heard a chime alerting everyone in the house that someone was trying to floo in. At the same time Harry heard the front door burst open and the sound of loud, excited voices filtered up the stairs. Harry sighed again and set the picture gently on his bedside table. Ginny stood and held out a hand to her boyfriend. Harry smiled and took it.

"Here we go." He said.

The pair made their way downstairs and was immediately ripped apart by friends trying to hug and greet them.

Seamus, Dean, Lee, Fred, and George started up some music and began dancing crazily in the living room. Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot started a game of limbo using a rod, Zacharias Smith conjured up.

"EVERYBODY LIMBO!" Terry and Ron shouted together.

A line immediately formed behind Zacharias.

Within the hour the house was in complete chaos.

Harry found himself getting dragged onto the dance floor by two girls he wasn't sure he'd ever met before. He danced with them for a while but the innocent dance quickly turned more aggressive as the girls closed in on Harry. He barely managed to slip out of the middle of them while grabbing Lee Jordan and pulling him into his spot. It took a moment for Lee to realize what was happening but when he realized he was surrounded by two pretty girls;he smiled and began to dance just as wildly as them.

Harry elbowed his way off the dance floor and went to the kitchen where he'd hoped to catch his breath and get something cold to drink. Unfortunately for him the kitchen was as out of control as the living room. Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet were standing on top of the kitchen table, dancing back to back while holding their cups out in front of them. Guys surrounded the table below them looking up at the girls with wide eyes. Katie chugged the rest of her drink and tossed the cup over her shoulder before offering her hand to a blonde boy Harry had seen probably once in his life. Alicia finished off her drink and offered her hand to the blonde boy's friend and then when the four of them started dancing the other five guys hopped onto the table as well. Soon Katie and Alicia were lost within the group. Harry was about to leave the kitchen when he heard a cracking noise that was loud enough to be heard even over the music. The teens dancing on the table were completely oblivious to the fact that the center of the table was sinking under their weight. Harry watched the legs of the highly polished table buckle slowly before they finally snapped. The dancing group crashed to the ground. Drinks poured down on them but they didn't seem to notice.

"Is everyone alright!?" Harry shouted over the blaring music.

His question was answered when everyone hopped back up and began dancing on the remains of the table as if nothing had happened. Harry shook his head, wondering how everyone could have gone so wild when the party hadn't even been going for half an hour. Suddenly Harry collided with someone. He spun and sighed with relief.

"Ginny." He breathed.

Ginny looked up at him happily and grabbed onto his arms as a wave of people rushed into the kitchen for more drinks. Harry and Ginny were shoved into a corner with Ginny's back against the wall and Harry in front of her. He looked down and grinned at the same time she looked up.

"Some party." Harry said.

"Who's tardy?" Ginny asked.

"SOME PARTY!"

Ginny giggled and nodded.

"Fred and George added something to the firewhisky to make it even stronger."

"What?" Harry asked.

"SUPER STRONG FIREWHISKEY!" Ginny bellowed.

"So that's why everyone's lost it already." Harry said.

"Who's lost what already?" Ginny asked.

"I SAID THAT'S WHY EVERYONE'S ALREADY LOST IT!" Harry shouted.

Ginny shook her head and pointed to the full bowl of spiked punch.

"It's not lost, it's right there!" she cried.

"How much have you had?" Harry asked.

Ginny looked thoughtful.

"Probably more then I should." She said.

Harry turned as much as he could and saw that even more people were now dancing among the remains of the table. He shook his head.

"I need some air." Harry turned to leave but Ginny grabbed his arm.

"You have hair. Stay and have fun." She said with a playful smile. Ginny reached over and grabbed a full cup off the counter. She held it out to her boyfriend.

"Here." She said.

Harry gently pulled the cup out of Ginny's hand and set it on the shelf above her head.

"I'm going outside." He said.

Ginny stuck out her bottom lip but nodded.

"Fine but come back soon." She said.

Harry nodded and left his girlfriend. As he headed for the front door Harry could just see Ron, Fred, and Lee having a drinking contest. People were standing around them cheering them on while holding their own drinks. Before Harry could turn away Fred slammed his empty cup down on the table, quickly followed by Ron and then Lee. Fred punched the air triumphantly and simultaneously fell out of his seat.

Suddenly two people were pulling on Harry's arm. Angelina Johnson and Cho Chang were trying to pull him towards the dance floor.

"Come on Harry." Angelina said.

"Dance with us." Cho begged.

"No I really need to…" Harry began.

"Oh come on Harry, don't be like that." Cho said.

"You know you want to. It'll be fun." Angelina added.

Harry pulled his arm out of both girls grasp and pointed over their shoulders.

"Look Roger Davis is going to jump off the banister." He said.

When the girls turned Harry ran out the door. He slammed it shut behind of him and took a deep breath as the blaring music disappeared behind him. Harry let the night breeze wash over him for a moment before heading down the sidewalk. People passed Harry but as long as he kept his head down no one paid him any attention.

At the same time Harry was going out for a much needed stroll, Draco was entering his room at the Leaky Cauldron. He'd spent the entire day in both Muggle and wizarding London and had to admit he was rather exhausted. Draco had done some shopping, a lot of walking, and spent the last few hours of daylight reading in a shaded park.

Draco set his multiple bags of new books, robes, and potions ingredients in a line under the window. He shrunk them all and slipped them into his night bag before pulling out the book he'd just started and plopping onto the bed to read some more. Just as he found his place a soft tapping at the window interrupted him. Draco looked up at saw a jet black owl sitting on the window ledge with a small piece of parchment clutched in its beak.

The blonde studied the owl for a long moment before standing to open the window. As soon as the window was open the bird dropped the letter and flew away. Draco watched as it disappeared quickly into the night before looking back down at the letter. He picked it up and after a long moment and a silent battle with himself, unfolded it. A picture fell out but the instructions on the front said that it was timed and wouldn't open until enough time passed for Draco to have read the letter

Draco,

Everyone must live with the choices they make but unfortunately you will not be so lucky. Your choice will cost you not only your own life but that of others around you as well. If you think your new 'home' will be enough to protect you, you are very sadly mistaken. The Dark Lord knows where you are hiding and it is only a matter of time before he extracts revenge on you for destroying his plan.

Now take a look at the picture Young Dragon for it is but a small preview of what lies in store for you and your friends.

The letter burst into flames and fell to the ground in a small pile of ashes. With shaking hands Draco picked up the picture but almost dropped it again in shock.

The picture showed Snape, bloodied, beaten, and barely conscious. He was lying outside the entrance of St. Mungo's. Draco couldn't tear his eyes off the broken man as he struggled to drag himself through the hospital entrance. Suddenly a shiver went down Draco's spine and his eyes immediately shot to the window. He jumped when he saw his own reflection. His face was flushed, and his eyes were wide. Draco looked at his hands and saw they were shaking violently.

Snapping out of his state of shock Draco grabbed up his bag and rushed out of the room. There was no way he was staying alone tonight. Draco went to the front desk and then hurried to the apparation point. With a final shudder Draco apparated away.

Harry had just crossed his fifth or sixth street when he felt a chill shoot down his spine. He looked around knowing that it wasn't the cool night that had made him shiver. Only a few people were still out walking at the late hour and none of them seemed particularly interested in him. Harry knew he'd felt someone watching him.

Suddenly he heard the unmistakable sound of a twig snapping. Harry spun around wildly trying to see someone. The streets were deserted and all the windows were dark. Feeling extremely exposed, Harry twisted on his heel and apparated back home.

He arrived with a soft pop and was confused to hear a second pop right after him. Harry and Draco jumped when they saw each other and quickly hid their embarrassment at being caught acting so panicky.

"Why aren't you at the party?" Draco asked.

Harry looked up at the place where Grimmauld Place would soon appear and sighed.

"It got out of hand really quickly." He said. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"I've never really liked the Leaky Cauldron so I came back." Draco lied smoothly.

Harry nodded and glanced quickly over his shoulder, wondering if whoever was watching him had followed him.

"Something wrong?" Draco asked.

Harry snapped back to face the blonde.

"No, nothing." He said.

Harry and Draco focused on the address for Grimmauld Place and when the door appeared Harry let Draco go in first. They both ignored the chaotic party and rushed upstairs. Harry stopped at the second floor and Draco continued up to the third. Both boys entered their respective rooms and threw up silencing spells that kept the sounds from the party out.

The party went on until just before dawn broke. A few people were able to apparate or floo home but others had passed out around the house.

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	4. Gone

The next morning Harry woke with a knot of dread in his stomach. He remembered the party even though he was pretty sure his friends wouldn't. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he, Draco, and Ron didn't get the house to themselves last night. Harry showered, dressed, and tried to forget the feeling of being watched that had followed him deep into his dreams. For a moment Harry considered telling his friends about this but figured they would have enough to worry about today. With a final heavy sigh Harry left his room.

An overpowering scent of sickness and alcohol attacked Harry's nostrils so violently that he gagged as soon as he reached the last flight of stairs before the living room. Suddenly the next breath he sucked in was fresh and clean. He looked around in confusion and saw Hermione smiling up at him from the bottom of the stairs

"Thanks." Harry said.

"You're welcome." She whispered back. "I heard you coming and I was going to come warn you but I was a little slow."

Harry nodded as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He looked around and saw ten bodies laying in two lines of five in the living room. They all had blankets covering them and white pillows under their heads. Harry glanced at Hermione who shrugged.

"They'd passed out all over the house so I moved them all in here." She said. "I've been cleaning since I got up but as you smelled, I haven't been able to find all the worst spots just yet. The table in the kitchen is all fixed by the way."

"Thanks a lot Mione but you didn't have to do that. You're leaving on your trip today, shouldn't you be packing?" Harry questioned.

Hermione laughed.

"Surely you know me better then that Harry. I've been packed for weeks."

"So who all is that?" Harry asked, gesturing to the sleeping teens on the floor.

Hermione pointed at each sleeping body with her wand.

"We've got Seamus, Micheal Corner, Katie, Lee, Fred, George, Roger, Anthony, Terry, and Alicia." She said. "There were a few others but they woke up and felt well enough to go home. I don't expect this lot to be so lucky. Ron's in his room by the way and Ginny's with him. Both of them are in for a rough day."

"Why's that?" Harry asked.

"Because I've only made enough hangover potion for these ten. Ginny and Ron are going to have to suffer through it on their own." Hermione said evilly.

"That's cruel." Harry said.

Hermione nodded proudly.

"Yes but I learned my lesson about over drinking the other night. Now these two need to learn something as well."

The friends laughed and Hermione glanced at the clock.

"Alright well I've got to be going. I promised Mum and Dad I would stop at their house before I left."

"Thanks a lot for your help Mione. Enjoy your trip." Harry said.

The pair hugged tightly. Harry walked Hermione to the door.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Ron?" he asked.

Hermione smiled.

"We took care of that before the party since we both knew he wasn't going to be up for it this morning."

Harry laughed and hugged his friend again. Hermione squeaked excitedly.

"I'm so excited for this trip. We're going to meet with wizarding council from all over the world! Students get job offers for cross country studies from this trip Harry!"

Harry smiled.

"I'll bet you get offers the second you get back."

Hermione grinned broadly.

"Oh I hope so. I'd learn so much."

"Haven't you learned enough already?" Harry asked.

Hermione laughed.

"Of course not, I'll see you in a couple months." Hermione called before apparating away. When she disappeared the bubble head charm she'd cast on Harry ended.

The raven haired boy stood on the front porch step for a moment longer before heading back inside. Harry put a bubble on himself when the rancid smell of sickness terrorized his nose.

It took him over an hour to find and clean up all the vomit messes Hermione hadn't gotten around to. None of the ten sleeping in the living room stirred and Harry was pretty sure it would stay that way for some time. With a small sigh Harry went into the kitchen and sat at the newly repaired table with a cup of tea.

Harry had just finished his tea when he heard footsteps on the stairs. A moment later the kitchen door burst open and Draco rushed in. He began thrusting food into a bag he had slung over his shoulder. Harry watched the blonde in silence until Draco was about to leave. Harry cleared his throat and Draco nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Oh, Harry." He breathed. "I didn't see you there."

"I figured that much." Harry gestured towards the bag. "Are you headed somewhere?" he asked.

Draco shifted the bag higher on his shoulder.

"Yes and I'm not sure when I'll be back so I'm taking some food with me."

"Why not just eat out?" Harry asked.

"Do I have to clear everything I do with you or something?" Draco snapped.

Harry looked surprised by the question.

"No I was just…"

"Just being too damn nosy, that's what you were doing." Draco growled.

Harry stood up.

"You're out of order, Draco."

"Am I now? Well maybe I shouldn't come back then."

The blonde turned and stormed out of the kitchen. Harry heard the front door slam a moment later, followed by collective groans from the teens in the living room.

Harry stared at the kitchen door for a moment longer, trying to replay the last few minutes in his mind. What had he said to set his friend off? Harry shook his head and decided to file the problem in the back of his increasingly crowded mind.

Harry found Hermione's freshly brewed hangover potion on the counter and poured a little into ten glasses. There was just enough to fill each cup with the right amount. Harry then set all the cups on a tray and took them out to the living room.

Outside Draco was feeling slightly guilty about how he'd just treated Harry but he felt that it had been necessary. Maybe if whoever was watching Grimmauld Place had seen or heard the fight and would think that Draco and Harry were no longer friends or living together.

Draco nodded to himself. It had been a good plan. He would apologize later and everything would be fine. Convinced that he wasn't actually lying to himself Draco turned on his heel and apparated away.

Harry sat on the sofa and waited as the potion took effect on his friends. Ron and Ginny still hadn't come out of Ron's room yet.

Seamus pulled himself onto the couch and leaned against Harry's shoulder with his eyes squeezed shut tight and his potion cup in one hand.

"Shoot me Harry, please, just shoot me." He begged.

Harry laughed.

"Just finish your drink and you'll be fine." He said.

Seamus groaned and glared down at the blackish-green substance in the cup. He looked up at Harry with bloodshot eyes. Harry pointed at the cup and nodded once. Seamus sighed and tipped the whole thing into his mouth. He hissed and shook his head as the foul tasting liquid slithered down his throat.

"Disgusting!" he gasped.

Harry looked around and saw that the others were reacting in a very similar way except Fred and George who were now trying- and failing miserably-to help each other to stand. One by one the rest of the group followed suit and soon everyone was on their feet, even though they were rather unsteady. Slowly the effects of the potion began to kick in and within five minutes everyone felt normal again with only the slightest wobble in their step.

"Thanks a lot Har, great party." Micheal said as he headed past Harry for the floo. Harry thanked him and showed him where the floo powder was.

The other nine guests filtered out as well with compliments to Harry for a fun party. Angelina even made him promise to have another one but not let Fred and George anywhere near the drinks. Harry laughed and said if he did have another party it wouldn't be at his own house.

Anthony was the last one to leave and just as he disappeared, Ginny and Ron dragged themselves into the living room. Ron flopped, face down onto the carpet and Ginny slid onto the couch with a miserable groan.

"Potion." She begged.

Harry shrugged hopelessly.

"Sorry you two, we're completely out and I haven't got any more ingredients left to make another batch." He said.

The siblings looked up at him with the deepest glares they could muster.

"Tell me you're bloody kidding." Ron pleaded.

Harry shrugged again and Ron buried his face into the carpet again. Ginny pulled one of the couch pillows over her face and slid farther into the cushions.

"I really am sorry guys." He said. "I'll go to Diagon Alley right now to get more."

Ginny lowered the pillow from her face.

"Can you even make the potion?" she asked.

Harry thought about it for a moment and shook his head.

"No actually."

The response earned a deep groan from both red heads.

"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"She left for her trip." Harry responded.

"What about Fred and George?" Ron begged.

"You finished off their supply yesterday morning." He said.

"Make them make more." Ginny cried.

Harry shrugged. He knew Hermione wouldn't approve but he wasn't about to stand here and listen to his girlfriend and best friend whine and suffer all day long.

"Alright, I'll go to the apothecary and get everything. I'll try to find Fred and George and they can come make more of the potion for you two alright?" Harry said. He reached out and grabbed some floo powder off the mantel. He stepped into the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley." Harry said, careful to enunciate so as not to have a repeat of the Knockturn Alley incedent before his second year.

"Hurry Harry!" Ginny and Ron called together and then groaned loudly.

It didn't take long for Harry to get to the apothecary. The little bell jingled as he pushed the door open and a few people turned to see who'd entered. Harry tried to wave and hide his face at the same time. Luckily none of the customers came over to him. He grabbed the ingredients for the hangover potion and headed up to the counter. Harry greeted the clerk with a smile as he set everything beside the register.

"Good morning." He said.

The clerk grunted and shoved Harry's change into his hand roughly. Harry looked at him curiously but the man turned away sharply.

"Erm, thanks." Harry muttered.

As Harry left the apothecary he realized that all the people who'd watched him enter the shop were shooting dark looks at him over their shoulders. One woman even looked scared when Harry's eyes landed on her. Confused Harry left the shop hurriedly.

_What was that all about?_ He wondered.

Harry spotted a brightly colored sign for a new ice cream shop that had just opened. Deciding that a giant cone of chocolate-chocolate chip might push the ugly glares he'd just received out of his mind, Harry made his way over to the small store. He was just about to reach out for the door knob when a small man appeared in the window, glared at Harry, and flipped the sign on the front from open to closed. The store owner pulled the blinds over the window even though Harry had already been able to see twenty or so people sitting at tables and on the little bar stools.

Harry slammed his fist on the shop door and turned around with a frustrated huff. A whole group of people had stopped and were staring openly at him. Harry saw one of them was looking from a newspaper in his hands up to Harry and back again.

"Can I see that?" Harry asked.

The man holding the paper flinched violently. His family took off running down the street after he threw the paper to the ground. Harry watched them run before reaching down and picking up the discarded paper. His breath caught in his chest and his whole body tensed as he took in the picture on the front page of the _Daily Prophet. _The picture was blurry but it only took a moment for Harry to realize what he was looking at. The photograph had been taken from over head and showed Pansy and Harry before and after they preformed the glamour charm on each other. Heart pounding and hands shaking, Harry began to read the story underneath the photograph.

_**Accusations stir uncertainties **_

_Last summer the wizarding world suffered yet again. First Harry Potter, 17, was reportedly kidnapped by Death Eaters during a mission involving Mr. Potter's removal from his muggle home. The wizarding world went into a panic as people fretted over the condition of our boy hero. _

_Shortly after this a powerful follower of You-Know-who, known only as Secret Weapon made his violent presence known during a Death Eater raid in a small pub at the edge of London. Secret Weapon could perform powerful wandless magic and used those abilities on an unlucky witch and wizard who'd been enjoying a drink at the pub before the Death Eaters attacked. Secret Weapon made another appearance in the office of Daily Prophet Editor, Stan Stevingson when he and his partner threatened Mr. Stevingson's life. _

"_They said I had to stop printing stories about You-Know-Who or he would make sure I never printed anything again then his partner cut off my fingers!" Mr. Stevingson explains._

_Aurors also believe that it was Secret Weapon who robbed the castle Casa Novair on the island of Novington. Secret Weapon was accompanied by a fellow Death Eater and together they were able to steal the Healer's Cup. _

_This summer does not seem to be getting off to a much better start. Accusations are flying through the rumor mill. Some merely shrug these events off as dreadful effects of the war. Others think there's something more than everyone else is seeing. _

"_Could it really be a mere coincidence that when Harry Potter disappeared You-Know-Who's secret weapon made himself known? Then Mr. Potter returns and the follower vanishes without a trace." John Ranson, ex-auror, said. _

_John Ranson was released from his position as auror due to his unethical methods of interrogation. Ranson continues to follow You-Know-Who's doings closely and has taken a personal interest in the connections between Harry Potter and Secret Weapon. Although Ranson's theories on many topics including; the possible attempts the Minister of Magic might be taking to brainwash all of the wizarding world, the imperious curse effecting not only the cursed subject but also anyone within a five mile radius, and his theory that Death Eater families ought to be locked up whether they support the dark arts or not have all been ignored over the past several years people are beginning to listen to his beliefs on the Potter/ Secret Weapon connections. He says that the picture above- taken by a security spell set in place shortly after Secret Weapons first apperance- should be enough proof to at least bring Potter into Ministry custody for questioning. Many members of the wizarding world seem to agree. Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, did not comment on the matter but a member of his inner circle told Prophet reporters that Potter would most likely be brought in before the end of the week. _

Harry read through the article twice before turning on his heel and apparting away. Once he arrived on his street Harry began pacing as he waited for Grimmauld Place to appear. He rushed up the steps and threw the door open.

"Ron, you've got to see…" Harry dropped his bag and froze just inside the living room

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Dumbledore, Kingsley, Moody, Lupin, and Tonks all sat in the living room with Ron and Ginny. A copy of the Daily Prophet sat on a table in the center of the circle. Harry felt his stomach plummet into his knees.

"Have a seat Harry." Dumbledore said.

Across London Draco sat in the grass on a black blanket with food spread out in front of him. A tall oak tree provided perfect shade.

"I finally did it Mum. I finally left. I never even got my mark. It was getting pretty close there at the end but…" Draco's voice trailed off as he poured himself some water. He glanced at the marble grave stone reading his mother's name, birth date, and death date. Having a picnic at his mother's grave was something of a tradition for Draco. Every year after school let out, he would come up here and share everything that had happened in the past year. Sometimes he felt like Narcissa was actually sitting across from him, listening to every word with a small smile or sometimes a frown, just like she did when she and Draco shared picnics when he was younger.

"Remember how I used to complain to you about Harry Potter all the time? I used to say he was so arrogant, self-centered, all that rubbish Sev said about him." Draco smiled and took a sip of his drink. "Well this year he was kidnapped and lost his memory. He ended up being my partner for Death Eater training." Draco shook his head at the irony. "He was so confused about everything mum. He thought he was the Dark Lord's top follower and in a sense I suppose he was. We stole the Healer's cup from Casa Novair together and he was excited about it. It was like for the past six years I've been hating him for acting so saint like and always being the hero but then there he was, being exactly like I guess I wished he would be. He was acting exactly like he would have if he would have accepted being my friend our first year. I was so angry at him for not believing me when I said that everything he was thinking was wrong. It tore me apart to just sit by and let Sev feed Harry lie after lie and watch him accept all of it. More than that I was scared. Terrified even. I may have hated him but I also know how important he is to ending this war. Ever since Dad began pushing me into being a Death Eater I'd hoped that Harry would destroy the Dark Lord before I really had to do anything I'd regret down the road.

"Anyway I'm living with him _and_ a Weasley now. Can you believe that Mum, a Weasley!" Draco scoffed. "We're actually living in Sirius Black's house. I remember you telling me about the times you'd spent there when you were younger. I'm sorry to say it was nothing like the way you described it by the time we showed up. We've fixed it up though and now it's pretty nice. I guess I could almost call it home if I wanted to. I won't say it out loud but I'll think it sometimes."

The blonde looked up at the blinding blue sky and sighed heavily.

"It's not the same kind of home I had with you though. I miss you Mum. I know that sounds like it's coming from nowhere but it's true. I can't stop thinking about the night it happened. It feels like I should have done something, anything but I couldn't. I was…" Draco's head fell and he squeezed his eyes shut. "I was too weak, Mum. I was too weak to stand up to him so you did it for me. It's my fault you're dead and now Sev…" Draco's voice cracked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture of his godfather. Draco had no idea if the man had actually made it into the hospital. He was too scared to go check. Even after everything Snape had done he was still Draco's godfather.

Draco looked at the food he'd set out and realized he wasn't going to eat it. He began to pack it all back in his bag, just for something to do with his hands. He continued to speak with Narcissa as he worked.

"Last night I got this letter. It said that You-Know-Who knows where I'm hiding and that the magic protecting Grimmauld Place won't be enough to protect me. It said that my choices wouldn't only cost me my own life but the lives of those around me." Draco finished packing away his food and stared intently at his mother's headstone. He could almost see her face in the shiny surface of the marble.

"I was too weak to protect you but I swear nothing's going to happen to Harry or Ron. Not if I can help it."

Suddenly an eagle owl landed on a branch above Draco's head. It hooted loudly until it got the blonde's attention. Draco saw something attached to the owls leg and felt his stomach clench with dread. He stood and the owl flew down to land on his shoulder. It stuck out its leg and waited for Draco to untie the letter before it flew away. Draco unfolded the parchment and a newspaper clipping fell out. He decided to read the letter first.

Draco,

You made a wise decision not telling Potter about your first letter. This would have been yet another unfortunate choice on your part. As was said in the letter prior to this, the lives of your friends are at risk. As you stand beside your mother's grave three of your friends are edging closer to joining her.

Life as one knows it is ripped at the seams while the life of another hangs on a thread. The third affected through the advances of another. A prisoner of ambition trekking too far from home will bring three broken to their final rest.

Confused? Perfect. Predictably you are going to try to save them all- provided you figure out who each of them are.

Take a look at the newspaper story attached. It may lead you to the first victim.

Draco shredded the letter in his hands and threw the pieces into the air angrily. He twisted around, trying to see if someone was watching him. There was no one in sight.

"Show yourself!" Draco shouted, whipping out his wand. "Come out you bloody cowards!" he bellowed. Still no one appeared. Infuriated Draco snatched up the newspaper article and started reading it. When he finished all of his anger melted and was replaced with shock and fear.

_Life as one knows it is ripped at the seams_. Draco growled as he shoved the blanket back into his bag with his food. He looked at his mother's grave sadly.

"Sorry Mum."

Draco cast an angry glance across the rest of the cemetery to check once more if he could see who was watching him. When he didn't see anyone Draco turned on his heel, and apparated away.

Harry sat on the couch between Ron and Ginny. Fred and George sat on the ends. The teens sat in silence, waiting for whatever was about to happen next. Dumbledore was just about to speak when the door burst open and Draco rushed in.

"Harry…" he began but the blonde froze just like Harry had when he saw the living room full of people.

"Draco please sit." Dumbledore said smoothly.

Draco set down his bag next to Harry's potions ingredients and went to take the seat beside Fred.

Dumbledore gestured to the paper on the table. Harry turned away. Draco glanced at it just to see if it was the same picture he'd been sent moments ago. Ron knew about the incident since Harry had explained it to him at some point during the school year. Fred, Harry, Ron, and Draco's faces remained expressionless. George, and Ginny however looked shocked. Both of them looked from the picture to Harry and back again.

"Harry?" Ginny said.

"Gin I…" Harry began but Moody cut him off.

"You'd better have one hell of an explanation boy." He growled.

Harry looked to Ron and then to Draco, lastly he looked up at Dumbledore.

"What's so bad about a picture?" Ron asked. "Maybe it's a fake."

"This was taken the same day Stan Stevingson was attacked." Mr. Weasley said.

"The same day Hermione and George brought us Harry's wand that they'd gotten after that battle in the alley." Lupin added.

Harry shifted uncomfortably.

"Harry, is it you in this picture?" Kinglsey asked.

Harry was silent for a moment before he nodded slowly.

"Why Harry? Why would you attack Stan Stevingson, I know he's allowed his reporters to print some rotten stuff about you in the past but I can't believe you'd attack him for it." Tonks said.

Harry shook his head.

"I didn't attack him for what he printed about me…" He snapped.

"Harry wasn't in his right mind when he did this. He was forced." Ron said.

"Potter's practically immune to the Imperious curse!" Moody reminded everyone.

"That's not what I meant."

"Can't keep your story straight? Maybe you're in on this too."

"Alastor!" Dumbledore said sharply.

The ex auror fell silent. Ron, Harry, and Draco glanced uneasily at each other.

"Fine we'll tell you everything that happened but you have to let us finish. No interrupting, no matter what." Harry said.

George leaned across Ron.

"That doesn't work well, mate. They interrupt anyway." He said.

Harry ignored the twin and tried to look at each of the adults square in the eye. Once all of them nodded he began to explain everything that had happened after the attack, up until the training. At that point Draco took over. He explained how Harry was pushed until he was finally able to perform wandless magic. Draco told how they broke into Casa Novair and made it passed booby traps and how he had tried to miss the aurors on purpose in the final moments before Harry snatched the cup. Ron took over with everything that happened from the moment he and Fred arrived at Voldemort's lair to the time Dumbledore woke him up in the hospital wing. All three boys were careful to emphasize the fact that Harry's mind had been warped completely out of shape and that he wasn't able to remember anything about the past seven years of his life.

"So you were a Death Eater?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded but kept his gaze on the floor. He hadn't looked at anyone since the explanations had began and now he didn't want to see the expressions on any of the adults faces. Feeling their intense stares was bad enough.

Everyone was silent for a long time.

"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Kingsley demanded.

Harry, Ron and Draco looked at Dumbledore who nodded once at them. Mrs. Weasley looked from the old man to her son and his friends.

"Did you know about this Albus?" she asked.

"I did. It was I who provided the boys with a cover story. I'd hoped to avoid this very conversation but uncontrollable events brought these unpleasant events around anyway."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Lupin asked.

"I didn't want any of you to know! I wanted to forget any of it ever happened!" Harry cried desperately.

"Well we needed to know Potter." Moody growled. "Now the whole wizarding world's got it in their heads that your You-Know-Who's all powerful secret weapon."

Suddenly a thought seemed to pop into all the adults heads simultaneously.

"Harry," Mrs. Weasley said. Her voice was soft but unless Harry was imagining things, the warmth behind her tone seemed more than a little forced. "Can you perform wandless magic?"

Harry nodded slowly. The adults shifted uncomfortably.

"Why didn't you tell us?" George asked.

Harry looked at his friend; his eyes begging him to understand.

"I wanted to but…" Harry began but suddenly Ginny stood up.

"Ginny…"

Ginny looked directly into his eyes. She didn't say a word but Harry felt the sense of betrayal in her glare. Harry didn't even try to call her back when she stormed out of the room. He watched her leave and to his surprise, George stood to leave as well but he hesitated when he saw Fred wasn't moving.

"Fred?" he said softly.

"I'm sorry George." Fred whispered. "Draco told Ron and me about Harry when we saw him in the dungeon."

"And you didn't tell me?" George said.

"Harry asked me not to tell anyone…" Fred answered. George turned on Harry with a sharp glare.

"Do you not trust me or something? Is that why you asked my brothers to keep such a huge secret from their own family?" he demanded.

"George no…" Harry tried but George ignored him and stormed into the kitchen after his sister.

Fred sighed heavily and shook his head as he stood.

"I'm going to…" he started. Dumbledore nodded and allowed the teen to follow his siblings into the kitchen.

Harry put his elbows on his knees and hung his head.

"This is exactly why I didn't want anyone to know." He said, running his fingers through his hair anxiously.

"You should have told us from the beginning Harry." Lupin reasoned.

"Why? So all this could have happened sooner?" Harry snapped. He looked up at Dumbledore. "Couldn't you have talked to me about this in private, why did you have to show it to them too?"

"They came to me, Harry. They saw the paper and asked questions that I believed you should be allowed to answer." Dumbledore explained.

Moody slammed his walking stick on the ground, so that the thud echoed through the entire room.

"Do you know what you've done Potter? The Ministry is on rampage looking for you. They would have posters out for your arrest but people take them back down because everyone's too bloody scared you're going to blast them into yesterday. "

Harry glared at the ex auror.

"This isn't Harry's fault." Draco said.

"Yeah, we didn't tell anyone anything either." Ron put in.

"You're right you didn't. That's why you two are in almost as much trouble as he is." Kingsley said sharply.

All three boys' heads snapped to face the auror.

"What?" they said in unison.

"Malfoy and Potter as of now you are under arrest. Weasley since you were on a rescue mission when you got wrapped up in this you get off with a warning to stay away from both of them." Moody growled.

"Are you bloody joking?" Ron shouted.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked just as surprised by the news.

"Is that really necessary, Albus?" Mr. Weasley asked. Dumbledore looked at Moody.

"Alastor, surely there is something that can be done."

"It's out of our hands. Fudge has set up a security house and if these two aren't in there today…" Kingsley shook his head and sighed heavily. "Draco should be glad he's not going to Azkaban like the rest of the Death Eater's we've brought in." Kingsley said.

"I'm not a Death Eater!" Draco said sharply.

"You're as good as one if you ask me. You've been trained, you robbed a high security castle, you're moving right along Malfoy." Moody snapped.

Draco jumped up from the couch so fast Harry barely managed to stand beside him and throw his arm out to stop him. Draco was breathing heavily and his hand tightened around his wand.

Moody had drawn his wand as well. His good eye gleamed coldly.

"Going to add an attack to your track record Malfoy?" he growled.

Harry and Ron had to work to keep Draco from leaping on the ex auror.

"Let go of me!" Draco demanded.

"Alastor!" Dumbledore bellowed.

Kingsley stood and took the place beside Moody.

"Come with us quietly. We don't want any trouble." He said smoothly. Harry glared at him.

"This is completely crazy! Albus do something!" Mrs. Weasley cried.

Ron had his wand out as well. The three boys stood between the couch and the adults but it would not be difficult to change that.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, boys." Kingsley said. His hand inched closer to his cloak pocket; a movement that didn't go unnoticed by Harry. The teen flicked his wrist to send the wand flying but Moody blocked the curse and sent another one at Harry. Harry felt his wand fly out of his pocket but he didn't really care.

"Alastor!" Dumbledore bellowed.

Harry waved both his arms behind him and sent the couch flying backwards into the wall. It collided with a loud crash. A puffy eyed Ginny entered with her red faced brothers on either side of her.

"What the hell?" Fred said.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted at Moody. The ex auror blocked it easily but barely dodged the stunner Draco sent his way. Harry threw up a shield that covered all three boys. Spell after spell rebounded off of the shield.

"This is getting out of hand!" Arthur shouted.

Suddenly a loud crack like that of lightning echoed through the room. Harry's shield shattered and his arms were quickly bound to his sides. He fell on his back with a loud thud, quickly followed by Ron and Draco. The teens struggled against the magical bonds but even Harry's wandless magic couldn't cut through. Dumbledore stood.

"Release them!" he demanded.

"We can't do that Professor." Kingsley said. He waved his wand twice.

The ropes shrunk so that it bound only the boys' wrists. He summoned Draco and Ron's wands and pocketed them.

Harry heard Mrs. Weasley sob but he couldn't see her. He could just see Fred, George, and Ginny standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Ginny I'm so…." Harry tried to say but with a pop he was gone. In two more pops Draco and Ron disappeared as well.

"ALASTOR!" Dumbledore bellowed.

"They deserve it Albus!"

"Bring them back right now!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"You said Ron didn't have to go!" Mr. Weasley shouted.

"He shouldn't have fought." Kingsley argued.

"BRING THEM BACK!" Mrs. Weasley cried again.

"No! They will do their time just like they deserve!" Moody snapped.

Kingsley nodded and the pair walked over to the floo. Before anything else could be said he and Moody were gone.

Silence pressed in on the small group as they stared at the empty space on the living room floor.

Mrs. Weasley shook with rage.

"Where did they send my son!" She demanded.

Dumbledore looked twice as furious as Mrs. Weasley but he had no answer.

"I do not know Molly but rest assured I will find out."

review please


	5. Show

The news hit every paper in circulation the very next day. As soon as Moody and Kingsley reported back to the Ministry, Fudge had called a press conference.

"The criminals Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Draco Malfoy have been apprehended. They are under house arrest and will remain so until further notice. The wizarding world can rest peacefully now that these three are imprisoned."

Fudge went on to give a big speech on how he knew Harry was a ticking time bomb and that he'd known that something like this would happen before long.

That was all the reporters needed to begin a full onslaught against the trio. Story after story bashing their names and pulling up any dirt that could be found flooded the wizarding world. Everyone-including those who'd gone to school with the boys-drank up the information, twisted it and spewed even more nasty tales.

Ginny Weasley sat in the back of Fred and George's joke shop with a copy of the most recent _Daily Prophet_.

_**Shattered Illusions**_

___Everyone who calls themselves a witch or wizard has heard the story of the boy who lived. Once it was a tale of miracles and love powerful enough to conquer evil and even death. As the past seven years went by, more tales were added to the famous story as the hero braved his way through adventure after world saving adventure. We all saw Harry Potter as the savior of the wizarding world; our guiding light in the growing darkness; the answer to all terrifying questions. Harry Potter – once the name of safety, bravery, and courage is now riddled with betrayal and deceit. _

_Harry Potter's friend, Ronald Weasley, followed him through every obstacle and many times enabled Potter to carry on through difficult times. Weasley has always been a name of a good, pure wizarding family, now it follows the same disgraceful line as Potter. _

_Potter and Weasley were once enemies with Draco Malfoy, son of known Death Eater Lucius Malfoy. Draco always followed in his father's footsteps but finally chose his own path after saving Weasley during a battle this past summer. Many within the wizarding world decided to accept young mister Malfoy as an individual and not as a clone of his father. Those forgiving souls were quickly forced to second guess their decision when it became known that Malfoy was now friends with Potter and had worked to steal the Healer's cup away from Casa Novair where it has been hidden for centuries. _

_Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy, three names once held in high esteem now spoken with as much venom and spite as You-Know-Who._

Ginny looked up when Fred sat across the table from her. He offered her a small smile but she couldn't bring herself to return it. Fred reached out a laid his hand on top of his sisters. It had taken a lot of talking on Fred's part to get George and Ginny speaking to him again but eventually they forgave him. Fred hadn't been able to sway their anger against Harry, Ron, and Draco.

"I just can't believe they'd lie about something like this." Ginny said softly.

Fred nodded once.

"I know how you feel Gin but can you really blame them? Harry didn't want any of us to know because he was afraid of how we'd react. Ron and Draco were just doing what they thought was right by keeping it a secret as well."

Ginny growled in frustration and ripped her hand away from her brother's. She walked over to the window, leaning her head against the side and crossing her hands in front of her chest.

"They still lied Fred. How can you expect me to be okay with that?" she demanded.

Fred sighed.

"I never said you had to be okay with it but I am asking you to accept it and move on. We've known Harry for a long time and he has some sort of reason for everything he does especially if it involves you. Are you really going to turn your back on your entire relationship because of something no one had any control over?"

He left his chair and stood beside his sister who was staring at all the people as they walked by the shop. Fred patted her shoulder twice when she'd been silent for a whole minute.

"Think about it Gin." He said before leaving the girl with her thoughts.

"He might still be asleep sir."

"Thank you Nurse Beth. Has there been any change in his condition?" Dumbledore asked.

The young red headed nurse looked down at her charts and hummed slightly to herself as she scanned them. She tried to keep her excitement at speaking to Albus Dumbledore hidden under a professional mask.

"Um it says here that he woke up around eleven o' clock this afternoon, shortly after your first visit. I didn't tell him you had stopped by just like you asked."

"Thank you."

"Of course. You can go visit him if you like. Visiting hours end in twenty minutes."

"Thank you. You've been very helpful." Dumbledore said brightly. He smiled warmly when Nurse Beth blushed.

"Have a good evening sir." She said before leaving the Dumbledore alone in the front of hospital door 214. He slipped into the hospital room and shut the door behind him with a click. Dumbledore sighed heavily as he took in the sight before him.

Severus Snape lay on the hospital bed in the center of the room, looking weaker then Dumbledore had ever imagined possible. Bandages covered his right arm and the top of his head. There was a cast on Snape's left leg and his was wrapped as well. At the moment the man was asleep though his face was contorted slightly in pain. Even in this terrible state Snape looked far better than the first time Dumbledore had visited him while he was still unconscious. One of the healers at St. Mungo's had called Dumbledore the second they realized who Snape was and the headmaster was able to visit every moment he could.

Dumbledore conjured a chair at the bedside and stared at his employee for a long time. He was surprised when Snape's left arm twitched and he began to shift slightly.

"Severus?" Dumbledore said softly. Snape had never been awake during any of Dumbledore's visits.

Snape opened his eyes and looked around without moving his head.

"What are you doing here?" he croaked when he saw his visitor.

"I am visiting a friend." Dumbledore said, holding a cup of water with a bent straw in front of Snape's face. The potions master managed a quick glare but a single glance from the 

headmaster told Snape he didn't have a choice. He took small drinks, not wanting to choke on big gulps. When Snape finished Dumbledore set the glass back on the nightstand.

"Why are you here?" Snape asked again.

"I told you…" Dumbledore started but Snape slowly shook his head.

"You cannot possibly call me your friend. I tried to kill you Albus." He said.

"But you didn't."

"Draco surprised me."

Dumbledore smiled slightly.

"You and I both know that the mere appearance of your godson would not have hindered your ability to kill me."

Snape turned away from the headmaster and the pair was silent for a moment.

"What happened to you?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape closed his eyes. Dumbledore waited.

"I was furious and worried about what Draco had done. I'd sent him in the dungeon to keep him out of harm. If anyone else had known that he was trying to help Potter regain his memories, Draco would have been punished horribly and I couldn't let that happen." Snape paused as a wave of pain coursed over his injuries. Dumbledore waited for him to continue. "I'd seen the Weasley boys when they arrived with Potter. The invisibility cloak had slipped. It was simple to track them through the castle so I knew they were in the dungeons when I went to talk to Draco. I gave as much information as I could without being too obvious in case someone were to follow me down."

"After that everything happened quickly. The Order attacked, Draco left with Potter and Weasley. The Dark Lord was furious beyond words. He took his anger out on all of us. No one was spared. Then in a desperate attempt to save herself Bellatrix shared with the entire congregation of the inner circle that she knew Draco was trying to help Potter and that I was trying to keep that information from the Dark Lord. There was no proof to back this accusation but I was kept under even closer watch then before.

"Months passed and everything continued as usual but there were meetings that I was kept out of. It did not take long for me to realize that I no longer a member of the elite. This however did not stop me from discovering what these meetings were about."

Dumbledore's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled proudly.

"The Dark Lord had come up with this plan with help from Lucius and Bellatrix. The targets are Potter, Weasley, and Draco. I don't know the details but I'm sure those three won't be the only ones involved." Snape continued.

"Can you explain what you mean by that?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, I can't. The Dark Lord discovered I was trying to pry into his affairs. He felt a simple warning would not suffice. He'd had enough with the complications I caused and decided that ridding himself of me was the best thing to do. I must admit I am surprised I am still alive."

Harry slid to the ground, rested his arms on his knees and leaned his head against the wall behind him. Ron was lying on his back in the center of the room with his hands folded under his head. His eyes were closed but Harry knew he wasn't sleeping. Draco was sitting with his back to both Harry and Ron as he stared out the only window in the entire house.

For the past day and a half the boys had been trapped in a single level building with magically enforced concrete walls. There were three beds, all in the same room. The only way the boys could get away from each other was if one of them were to stand in the kitchen, one in the sleeping area, and another stayed in the bathroom. The magic in the walls prevented Harry from being able to perform wandless magic and the effect was already physically affecting him. Sharp, hot, tingling sensations shot through Harry's body every half hour and the more he moved, the more intense it got.

The boys hadn't spoken since they arrived in the prison house. There was nothing to say. They'd all decided to skip out on dinner the night before but had quickly realized they'd made a mistake when all the food disappeared an hour later. The cabinets were refilled for one hour during breakfast at eight and again during lunch. It would soon be time for dinner which would mean each boy would take a turn in the kitchen, make their own food and sit back in the same place they were now.

Harry looked at each of his friends and sighed heavily. The silence was more torture then the endless tingling sensation that he felt in his entire body all day long.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Don't be stupid you didn't do anything." Ron said from the floor, without opening his eyes. Harry shrugged.

"Yeah but…" Harry began.

"We all decided to keep a secret, everyone found out, this is the result. Don't pry into it." Draco snapped.

Harry's eyes narrowed. His nerves were on edge from the constant tingling and the severe boredom.

"What the bloody hell is your problem?" He snapped. "That's the second time today you've bit my head off for asking a simple question." Harry hissed as pain shot through his body starting at his finger tips.

Draco continued to stare out the window in silence.

"Well…" Harry demanded.

Ron's eyes were open now but they stared unblinking at a spot on the ceiling.

"I asked you a question!" Harry snapped.

Draco jammed his hand into his cloak pocket and ripped out the two notes he'd gotten along with the photographs. He leapt up, walked over, and dropped them in front of Harry. Draco sat in front of Harry as he read over the notes. Ron finally sat up and moved so that he could read over Harry's shoulder. When the pair finished reading both notes and studying the pictures they looked up at Draco who'd been watching them.

"Do you have any idea who they could be from?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Draco answered shortly. "My dad's the only person who ever calls me Dragon and that's usually when I'm in trouble. But Bellatrix and Snape are the only ones who know I visit my mother's grave but somehow I don't think Snape had anything to do with this judging by that picture."

"Is that where you went with all the food, your mum's grave?" Harry asked after a moment.

Draco nodded curtly.

Ron was still reading the second note.

"This must be some sort of ruddy joke. No one can possibly understand what this says."

Harry took the note back, moving slowly so as not to trigger another shock.

"Life as one knows it is ripped at the seams…" He read.

Draco held up the newspaper clipping that had come with the note.

"I think that clue might be talking about you, Harry."

Harry and Ron agreed.

"While the life of another hangs on a thread…" Harry continued.

Ron held up one of the pictures.

"Maybe that clue's talking about Snape." Ron said.

Draco shook his head.

"The note said that everyone involved was my friend." He shrugged. "I don't think any friend would lock me in the dungeon."

"The last parts don't make any sense either." Harry said after a moment. "The third affected through the advances of another. A prisoner of ambition trekking too far from home will bring three broken to their final rest."

The boys were silent for a long time. Ron grunted irritably and shook his head.

"Bloody hell, school's over we shouldn't have to think this hard." he groaned.


	6. Revelations

Fred and George restocked shelves in their shop while Ginny controlled the counter. It was the third day since Ron, Harry, and Draco went into ministry custody but the way everyone acted anymore it was as if they'd just gone on a little vacation.

The first day after the boys disappeared Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley kept trying to get information as to their whereabouts but finally Fudge had enough of them meddling. He told them that either they stop prying into ministry affairs or they would be in huge trouble.

The younger ones thought it was an empty threat but the adults had backed off their search slightly, not wanting to put Arthur's job at risk. Lupin had planted the theory in everyone's head that wherever the boy's where they were probably safe. Of course everyone agreed, happy to have a positive outlook on things for a change.

Ginny barely looked at the customers as they paid for their purchases. She heard bits and pieces of conversation but tried to block them out.

"_-I know did you see what she was wearing?" _

"_Yeah those robes were disgusting."_

"_Those new broom servicing kits are amazing!"_

"_I know! I fixed up my Comet last week and it actually flies in a straight line now."_

Ginny didn't think she'd be able to handle one more second of mindless chatter when she finally over heard something that got her mind moving. The conversation came from two guys and a girl that were looking at some of the fireworks that were on the shelf next to the counter.

"_I can't believe that Potter kid went over to You-Know-who's side. How stupid is that?" _

"_That's what I was thinking. Did you know this shop is owned by Ron Weasley's brothers?" _

"_Really? No way! Wow how embarrassing for them; their brother going to the Dark side. Plus Potter was really close to the Weasley's wasn't he? My cousin, Zacharias Smith, goes to Hogwarts and he said he never sees Potter without one of them. " _

"_I don't know if I could ever show my face back at that school again after something like this happened to my family!"_

Ginny gritted her teeth as she tried to ignore the comments. Her knuckles were bone white from her intense grip on the counter's edge. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the other side of the room and block out everything around her but that didn't stop the last comment the girl who claimed to be Smith's cousin said from reaching Ginny's ears.

"I bet Potter paid Weasley to switch sides with him. Theo says the Weasley's are poor but Potter was pretty load…OUCH!"

Ginny had abandoned her place at the counter and punched the girl square in the side of the face. She reeled and collapsed into her friend who was staring at Ginny like she was insane.

"Are you off your bloody rocker?"

"DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT MY BROTHER OR MY FAMILY LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Ginny growled. By now Fred and George were rushing over, elbowing their way through the crowded joke shop.

"I don't even know who the hell your family is!" the girl sobbed through streaming tears.

"Ron Weasley is my brother! Harry Potter is my boyfriend and Draco Malfoy is my friend. You'd better watch what you say about any of them or I won't just punch you next time." Ginny snapped, she pulled back her robes to reveal her wand stuck in the top of her skirt.

"Don't you threaten her you little…" one of the boys began but stopped mid sentence when Fred stepped between him and Ginny, his wand raised.

"I don't think you want to finish that." He hissed.

The boy glared at him.

"The three of them deserved what they got for switching over to the Dark side." The last boy snapped. He had his arm draped over the girl's shoulders and held his wand in his free hand.

George whipped out his wand.

"Oh you think so do you?" he snapped.

"Yeah I do, what are you going to do about it?"

"Drew, let's go." The girl sobbed.

"No Jess. These jokers can't go around defending scum like Potter and…." He never finished the rest of his sentence. George's curse caught him square in the chest and sent him crashing into a display of disappearing underwear. Drew's friends looked at George with wide eyes. Fred turned to where a huge crowd was gathered behind them.

"Any of the rest of you have something to say?" he shouted. His ears were as red as his hair and his eyes burned angrily.

The stunned crowed stared at him blankly.

"If any of you have something against Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, or Draco Malfoy I suggest you get out of our store." He shouted. Sparks shot out of the tip of his wand as he glared at the crowd.

The customers didn't need telling twice. There was a mad rush for the door with Drew and his friends jumping over people to make it out.

Ginny glared at their retreating figures but didn't speak until the store was empty.

"Why are people so bloody stupid?" she asked quietly.

Fred and George each draped an arm around their sister. Fred smiled down at her.

"Not everyone can be as amazing as us. It would be chaos."

Ginny cracked a smile.

"So does this mean you've finally forgiven Ron, Draco, and Harry?" George asked.

Ginny nodded.

"If the rest of the world is saying anything close to what those three were, Ron and the rest have enough on their plates without having to worry about me." She admitted.

Fred separated himself from his siblings to turn the open sign over and close the blinds.

"I don't think we'll be getting anymore customers today. Let's go home."

As the Weasley's defended their family name as well as their friends, Dumbledore was visiting Snape in St. Mungo's. The headmaster had visited every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. He and Snape usually spent most of his visit trying to figure out what the rest of Lucius and Bellatrix's plot could be.

"I don't understand why they complicate things by dragging others into this." Snape said irritably. "They have enough difficulties trying to capture Potter alone. It makes no since to go after Draco and Weasley or anyone else as well."

"Think about everything the boys did Severus. Draco refused to become a Death Eater like his father. Ronald and his brother discovered a way for the Order to get to Voldemort's most secret lair, something no one has ever been able to do. And as for Harry…" Dumbledore faded off as Snape nodded. There was no reason to go into the long list of offenses Harry had committed against the Dark side.

"I understand that Albus but what if you recall I told you that those three would not be the only three involved. There could be one more there could be dozens more."

"These individuals would most likely be used as bait to bring Harry and the rest back to the lair." Dumbledore said after a pause.

Suddenly the door opened and a young red headed nurse entered. Dumbledore smiled at her.

"Good morning Nurse Beth." He said brightly.

The nurse blushed madly as she always did when Dumbledore spoke directly to her. Beth had gone to Hogwarts when she was younger and had admired Dumbledore's works since before she ever received her letter.

"Good morning Professor Dumbledore. How are you doing today Professor Snape?"

"I am ready to go home." Snape said sharply.

Nurse Beth smiled.

"I bet. You've been here a while and you're making enormous progress very quickly but there are still some internal injuries we need to watch over for at least two more days." She explained.

Snape glared at her but Nurse Beth wasn't looking at him. Instead she was focusing on her clipboard.

"Are you suffering from any sharp pains?" she asked.

"No."

"Could you bend and straighten your right arm three times in a row for me please?" Beth asked.

Snape didn't look at Dumbledore as he struggled to do the simple task.

"Hm. It appears that arm is still a little stiff. The bone mending potion we gave you should have fixed that but no worry. I'll be back in a few minutes with something that should help. Are you stiff anywhere else?" Nurse Beth questioned.

"No." Snape snapped.

"Alright then. I will be back with that potion in a flash."

"Thank you Beth." Dumbledore said when he realized Snape wasn't going to thank his nurse. The nurse's face exploded red as she nodded and left the room.

"Are you certain you're not in any other pain Severus? Admitting you are does not make you weak." Dumbledore said knowingly. Snape's eyes flashed to the headmaster and back to the door. He mumbled something under his breath.

"Sorry I didn't quiet catch that." Dumbledore said.

"It's my chest alright? When I breathe in it...it…" Snape snapped. His voice faded off and he pushed himself back against the pillows as if he'd just revealed his deepest secrets. 

Dumbledore patted Snape gently on the arm but didn't say anything further. The pair sat in silence for a while and didn't speak again until after Nurse Beth came and injected Snape in his right arm with a redish looking potion that was supposed to relieve the stiffness.

When the nurse left, Snape looked over at Dumbledore.

"What are we going to do about this Albus?" he asked.

Dumbledore sighed lightly.

"We will do what we can and hope for the best."

Harry, Ron, and Draco sat on the floor of the prison house with the letters set in the center of their triangle. They'd all taken several turns reading and re-reading the second note.

"I still don't get it!" Ron exclaimed. "It's Harry's life that got ripped apart. We've got that but what about the rest of it damn it."

"Calm down Ron. We'll figure it out." Harry said. He looked at the note again. "Draco I really think the life hanging on a thread is Snape. He looks really bad in this picture."

Draco groaned and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes.

"I told you the clues are about friends. Snape is…Snape is nothing." He said.

Harry looked at Ron who looked like he was about to tear the notes into shreds and eat the pieces right there.

"What if the third is talking about Ginny somehow?" Harry said thoughtfully.

Ron and Draco looked at him incredulously.

"How the bloody hell did you come up with that?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.

"I don't know it may not be in a good way but Ron you are becoming pretty famous. Your name's been in all the papers. That could be the advances."

"The clue says the third affected through the advances of another. A prisoner of ambition trekking too far from home will bring three broken to their final rest." Ron said. "You know me Harry. I have very little desire to do much of anything so there's no way I'm a prisoner of ambition.."

Harry grunted.

"You're right."

Draco looked thoughtfully at the floor as Ron and Harry discussed.

"We've been at this for days! Why can't we figure this owwww!" Harry crossed his arms over his chest and squeezed his hands under his arms as pain shot through his fingertips and up through the rest of his body. He stopped moving completely and the pain lifted. Harry took a deep breath and shook out his arms. He looked up and saw Ron and Draco staring at him uncertainly.

"I guess they really don't want me to do magic." He said.

"They probably think you'll bust out of here and attack the ministry." Ron said with a grin.

Harry and Draco sniggered.

"Yeah forget the Dark Lord, watch out for Harry Potter." Draco teased. Harry pushed the blonde over.

"Shut up both of you." Harry laughed.

"Or what? Are you going to blast us with your super wandless power?" Ron said in mock horror.

Harry reached up and grabbed the pillow off his bed and wacked Ron with it.

"He's attacking!" Draco cried out. He jumped up and ripped the pillow off his bed which he used to begin beating on Harry.

Harry jumped up and began pelting Draco.

"Don't just stand there help me Weasley!" Draco cried after Harry caught him in the stomach. Ron dove onto his bed and snatched up his pillow and began beating on Harry. The raven haired teen laughed.

"This isn't fair. Two against one!" he shouted.

Ron paused for a second.

"You're right." He said and began going after Draco. Harry fell to his knees laughing as he watched his friends battle. Draco turned to him and smirked.

"Think that's funny do you?" he said. He glanced at Ron who nodded.

"Oh no." Harry gasped.

In a flash Draco and Ron were pounding on Harry who did his best to defend himself until his pillow was ripped away.

"NO FAIR!" he shouted as he pushed past his friends and began running through the small house. Harry leapt onto Draco's bed and looked down at his friends. Ron and Draco surrounded him.

"Get off my bed Potter!" Draco shouted.

"Give me my pillow back Malfoy!" Harry demanded.

"NEVER!" Draco and Ron shouted together. The pair leapt onto the bed and tackled their friend to the ground, beating him with pillows all the while. Harry could hardly breathe from laughing so hard. He managed to stand up but tripped again, catching the wall for balance. Harry gasped in pain as something like electricity shot through his hand.

Draco and Ron didn't see this and continued beating on their friend, pushing him closer to the wall. Harry tried to push back but tripped on Ron's foot and fell hard backwards against the wall.

"AHH!" he shouted as searing pain shot through his body. Ron and Draco immediately stopped attacking him but in their confusion didn't step back far enough for Harry to get away from the wall. Harry couldn't push himself up and kept touching the wall which caused pain like he'd never imagined.

"Harry?" Ron said uncertainly. He bent down and grabbed his friend's arm, bracing himself on the wall so he could help Harry up but the effect was horrible. The magic in the walls shot through Ron's hand into Harry's arm. Harry shouted out and Draco realized what had happened. He ripped Ron's hand off the wall and pulled Harry to his feet.

"It's the bloody walls. We forgot he can't touch the walls!" Draco said as he tried to drag Harry back to the center of the room. Ron helped him and set his pillow under his friend's head. Harry was breathing extremely heavily and his face was covered in sweat.

"Harry? Are you alright? Harry." Draco called.

Harry kept his eyes squeezed shut but nodded. Ron kept running his hand through his hair.

"How could we have forgotten that? Merlin I didn't think even I was that stupid." He mumbled.

"just an accident." Harry whispered. His face was more relaxed and he appeared to be struggling to stay awake. "'m tired I think." He murmured.

Draco nodded.

"The walls are meant to drain you of your wandless magic abilities. That's probably pretty exhausting so sleep would be good I think." He said uncertainly. He looked up at Ron for some sort of confirmation but the red head just shrugged helplessly.

"J-just go to sleep, Harry. You'll feel better when you wake up." Draco said.

Harry barely nodded and within seconds he was asleep.

Draco looked up at Ron who'd taken to pacing.

"This ruddy house is going to kill him, isn't it? I've never seen anything like this before. How can it be attacking just him? Why doesn't anything happen to us?" Ron rambled.

Draco stood as well and retrieved a blanket to drape over his friend.

"I feel a little bit of a weird rush in my hands once in a while but nothing as intense as Harry." Draco admitted.

"Well me too. I guess whatever it is really only targets wandless magic somehow." Ron said. He collapsed onto his bed. "I wish Hermione hadn't gone on that trip. She'd know how to help Harry." He said dejectedly. Draco sat beside the red head.

"Where's she at now?" he asked, hoping to stir up some sort of conversation so that neither of them dwelled on Harry.

"I'm not sure, probably somewhere halfway across the world." Ron said with a smile. "I always knew she'd get into something great like this. Ever since we were first years she was always really driven to be the best at everything. She has big plans, Hermione does and there's not a doubt in my mind that once she finally makes it home, she'll achieve every single one of them."

Draco glanced at the blissful expression on Ron's face.

"You really fancy her don't you?" he said.

Ron nodded.

"Yeah I do. We fight a lot but it's just because she's so smart and I'm just…well you know. She was always so far advanced for our year she actually taught Harry and I most of the lessons we didn't understand. I doubt we'd have made it through school without her."

Draco grinned slightly.

"I was surprised when Hermione accepted me being around all the time during school. I mean I was really horrible to her. I don't think she believes me but I really am sorry for calling her a…" Draco sighed. "I'm sorry for saying a lot of the stuff I said over the years."

Ron patted his friend on the shoulder.

"It's alright Draco. It's all behind us now."

Draco nodded.

"The only question now is what lies ahead of us." He said. He leaned down and picked up the second letter and read through it one last time.

"The third affected through the advances of another. A prisoner of ambition trekking too far from home will bring three broken to their final rest." Draco read aloud. Both boys sat in silence for a long moment. The answer struck them both full force.

"BLOODY HELL!" they shouted together.

Next

Harry, Ron, and Draco, work some more on cracking the puzzle

Harry tries wandless magic

Can't do it and it hurts him a little

More and more the more he tries


	7. Proven

Harry didn't wake up until Ron and Draco could almost make out the pale pink of the first rays of sunrise in the sky. When he finally woke up he couldn't remember what had happened.

"You hit the wall during our pillow fight." Ron explained quickly. Harry furrowed his brow uncertainly.

"Pillow fight?" he said.

Draco's eyes went as wide as saucers.

"Harry where are we?" he asked. Harry looked at the blonde as if he were crazy.

"In the prison house. Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

Draco sighed heavily in relief but Ron, completely oblivious to what had just happened pulled Harry's concentration.

"Listen Harry we figured out who the last person in the clue is! It's Hermione. It's got to be. No one else makes near as much sense!" Ron said hurriedly. His eyes were wide and shifty with worry. It seemed impossible for him to stand still so he bounced anxiously on his heels.

Harry looked up at him in disbelief. He hit himself on the head with his hand.

"Of course! She's the most ambitious person any of us know!" he leapt up and began to pace.

"How could we be so stupid?" he demanded.

"That's what I said but listen we have to get out of here. Nobody knows about any of this and we've got to find Hermione before something happens!" Ron said. His voice cracked slightly but he struggled to keep his voice even. Draco shifted slightly where he sat.

"Harry we've got a plan on how to break out of this house…." Ron started. His eyes bore desperately into Harry's. "But it won't be pleasant for you." He said.

"I don't care. Hermione's my friend. We've got to help her."

"I don't think this is a good idea." Draco said suddenly.

Both Harry and Ron turned on the blonde in a flash.

"What are you talking about? You came up with the idea!" Ron practically shouted.

"I know but Ron did you not notice that Harry forgot what happened before he passed out? That was from a little bit of exposure to the walls. If we go through with the plan…" Draco began but Harry cut him off sharply.

"I was being stupid I know what happened. We were having a pillow fight and I hit the wall that's it done. Now what's the plan?" He demanded.

"You only know that because Ron just told you." Draco argued.

"Can we get on with this please? My girlfriend could be in trouble!" Ron shouted.

Harry turned away from Draco who looked ready to argue and faced Ron determinedly.

"What's the plan?" he asked.

"Harry…" Draco said. He stood but Ron shoved him roughly back down on the bed.

"If you're not going to help, stay out of this Malfoy." He growled.

"I'm not going to stand here while you put Harry's life…"

"This isn't about me! Now what is the plan?" Harry demanded.

"You'll stand in the center of the room, as far from the walls as possible to hopefully soften the effects on you and…" Ron began.

"Are you two insane?!" Draco cried.

"you'll focus on blowing them up or destroying them or something."

"Okay."

"NO!"

Draco made to stand again but Ron pushed him down.

"Stop being an idiot!" Ron shouted.

"Harry listen to me!" Draco demanded as Harry walked towards the center part of the room.

"You're going to kill yourself!" Draco shouted. Ron struggled to hold him back as Harry spread his arms wide with his palms facing out. Draco fought against Ron. The pair crashed to the ground battling as Harry closed his eyes and began to imagine the walls exploding outward.

Almost immediately Harry felt his hands heat up as they tried to perform the magic he was asking for but the house fought against it. The magic in the walls tried to cancel out Harry's powers by forcing it back into his body. Harry gasped as pain filled his arms and spread through his body.

"Get off me Weasley!" Draco shouted.

"We've got to help Hermione!" Ron argued.

The pair rolled and Draco ended up on his back with Ron's knee in his chest. Ron looked up at Harry who's head had fallen forward onto his chest. Ron could only see Harry's back but he could tell the raven haired boy was shaking.

"You can do it Harry!" Ron shouted as he watched the walls begin to bulge outwards.

Harry heard the words but had trouble registering where they were coming from.

_Forget that just concentrate. _Harry thought to himself. He pushed out more energy and gritted his teeth even harder as the pain intensified. Harry focused as hard as he could and soon fell to his knees.

_What am I doing on the floor? Am I in training again? _He wondered.

There was a loud cracking noise. Harry's body felt like it was being ripped apart.

"You're doing it Harry!" Ron called.

Harry's heart was pounding and his head throbbed painfully. The house groaned eerily and a giant crack shot from the base of the left wall, through the ceiling, and down the right wall.

Draco struggled against Ron who's eyes gleamed insanely as he watched the house slowly expand.

"Harry! Stop!" Draco shouted.

_Stop? no I can't do that. I have to…I have to get this right so training will stop. Wait, training doesn't sound right. I'm doing something else. There's someone. Hermione! Oh yeah save Hermione…from what? Why does training hurt this bad I have to make it stop. I have to show I'm not weak!_

Harry slowly brought his arms closer to his body, the walls bent back in slightly. With a desperate, anguished cry Harry threw his arms out. The house exploded in a cloud of dust. Harry collapsed to the ground and didn't rise.

Draco shoved Ron off of him and rushed to his friend's side. Harry's face was deathly pale. There was blood down the corner of his mouth where he'd bit his lip at one point. His hands were a raw, angry red.

"Is he breathing?" Draco whispered.

Ron laid his ear on Harry's chest.

"Yeah but it's wild. His heart beat is way too fast."

"Damn it Weasley I told you we shouldn't do this!" Draco snapped.

Ron glared at him.

"I'm trying to save my girlfriend. Harry will be alright. He's always alright."

Draco looked down at Harry whose entire body was shaking slightly. Suddenly Harry shot straight up with a scream like a war cry. Ron and Draco leapt back in surprise. Harry's normally vibrant green eyes were a horrible blood color. His breathing was so fast it sounded as if he'd just run miles.

"Harry?" Ron said.

Harry's head snapped to him quick as a flash. He raised a hand and aimed it at the red head. He flicked it and Ron was sent flying twenty feet backwards.

"Bloody hell." Draco whispered. He began to back up but his feet crunched on a piece of concrete. Harry's attention snapped to him.

"Get away from me!" he hissed. His voice was low and raspy as if he'd been screaming for hours. Draco immediately began backing up but apparently not fast enough for Harry who raised his left hand and with a flick and a swish he sent Draco flying so that he landed a few feet away from Ron. Suddenly Harry's hands shot to his head and he cried out in pain. He sat screaming for almost a minute before he pitched forward onto his hands and knees. When he looked around he saw Draco and Ron struggling to stand up in the middle of a huge of debris.

"Are you two alright?" he shouted. Harry rushed to their sides and was confused to see his friends staring uncertainly at him.

"Harry?" Ron said carefully.

"Yeah."

"Your eyes are green again." Draco pointed out.

"They always have been as far as I know." Harry said. His voice portrayed his confusion but he none the less helped his friends to stand up.

"What happened to the house?" he asked.

"You just destroyed it." Draco said.

"Then you attacked us!" Ron added in shock. He rubbed his chest where Harry's spell had caught him.

"I did what?!" Harry exclaimed.

"Something happened after you destroyed the house." Draco said, hoping that Harry would be able to continue the rest of the story.

"I attacked you!" Harry cried out. He ran his hands through his hair.

"It's not your fault. There was something weird happening to you. You're eyes changed to red." Draco continued. By now Ron had stood up and was looking at Harry uncertainly.

"Are you alright now?" he asked.

"I'm a little sore but yeah I feel fine." Harry said.

"Good let's get out of here. We still have to tell everyone and help Hermione!" Ron said.

"Hermione's in trouble?" Harry asked.

Draco and Ron stared at their friend.

"She's the one mentioned in the last part of the clue." Ron said.

Harry's eyes went wide.

"You figured out the clue! I don't believe it why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"We did, that's why you blew up the house!" Draco exclaimed.

Harry saw panic flash through Draco's eyes and immediately felt bad that he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Er… wait I think I remember. Were we going to…" Harry racked his brain for something that would make Draco and Ron stop looking at him the way they were. "we were going to go tell Dumbledore right?" he asked.

Ron nodded enthusiastically, looking relieved. Draco looked less sure.

"Do you think we can apparate?" Harry asked.

Ron shrugged and looked at Draco who was still staring at Harry in mild concern.

"Draco?" he asked.

The blonde nodded.

"We should be able to. I don't think they'd have thought anyone could break out of the prison house. No sense in worrying about wards around it." Draco said.

"Okay to the Burrow then." Ron said. He turned on his heel and disappeared with a soft pop.

"Are you sure you're alright Harry?" Draco asked, knowing the answer before it even came.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Harry said nonchalantly. With a nod to his friend Harry turned on his heel and disappeared.

Shaking his head Draco disapperated as well.

Once at the Burrow the boys rushed into the house.

"Mum! Dad! Anybody!" Ron shouted from the kitchen.

A stampede of footsteps echoed through the entire house. Fred, George, and Ginny came flying down the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley appeared from the living room. All of them stared at the boys in silence. Draco shifted uneasily under their gazes. Ron shrugged.

"We're home." He said simply.

Before any of the Weasley's could respond their attention was drawn to the kitchen floor. Harry was on his knees with his hands clutching his head desperately. Ginny immediately sprang forward and put her hands on Harry's shoulders.

"Harry?" she said uncertainly.

Something like a strangled growl escaped Harry's throat as he looked up at her. His eyes flashed between blood red and emerald green. His voice cracked from normal to raspy.

"Get away." He said.

Ginny stared at him in disbelief. Draco leapt forward and ripped her away quickly. Everyone stared at Harry with wide eyes as he continued to fight against whatever was going on in his head. Minutes passed in silence except for the cries of pain from Harry. Finally as if freed from some sort of grip Harry pitched forward onto his hands and knees. He breathed heavily with his head hung low.

"Harry, are you alright?" Draco asked, kneeling on Harry's left side while Ron took the right.

Harry barely nodded. It took him several more minutes to get his breathing under control and for his heart to return to its normal speed. When he finally looked up everyone in the room gasped. He looked at them all curiously.

"When did we get to the Burrow?" he asked. Everyone's surprised expressions grew when they heard Harry's voice. It was lower and more cracked then they'd ever heard it before.

"Harry your eyes." Ginny said, ignoring her boyfriend's question.

"What about my eyes?" Harry questioned.

Fred disappeared for a moment before returning with a mirror from the bathroom. He handed it to Harry without a word. Harry accepted it and almost dropped it. The normally vivid green color of his eyes was encircled by a solid red line. Harry looked from Ron to Draco.

"What happened?"

The pair took turns explaining to Harry everything that had happened since he blew up the house. The Weasleys listened in silence. Mrs. Weasley had her arms wrapped around Ginny who was staring at the floor. Draco finished explaining to Harry how his eyes had changed colors right before he attacked Ron also.

"I think it happens when you use magic. The house attacked your powers and you fought it but I think it did some serious damage." Draco said.

"That's not possible though is it?" Ron asked.

He looked from Harry who'd been silent the entire time to Draco who shook his head.

"Do you have any other ideas?" he asked.

Finally Mrs. Weasley spoke up.

"What are you three doing here? It doesn't sound like the Ministry released you." She said.

Ron immediately burst forth with an explanation of all three notes, discovering that the last clue had to be Hermione, and then how Harry blew up the prison house.

"Did you really?" Mr. Weasley asked at this point. He looked at Harry with an awed expression.

Harry sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in his hands that Ginny had made for him before she sat on his right side. She had her head rested on his shoulder and her face seemed to be struggling between being happy that she had her boyfriend back and being extremely worried about what had just happened.

When Ron finished his story he was out of breath and his eyes were wide.

"Are you absolutely sure boys?" Mr. Weasley said.

There was no mistaking the slight uncertainty behind the man's voice. He looked at his wife who glanced back at him before looking back at Draco, Ron, and Harry.

"Of course we're sure. It took us three days to figure it out but we've got it!" Ron exclaimed. "We have to find out where Hermione is and warn her somehow or she might already be in trouble!"

Mrs. Weasley took her son by the hand and led him over to the table where they sat.

"Ron dear I think those notes were meant to make you boys do something foolish." She said softly.

"The picture of Snape…" Draco said.

"…Is legit. Dumbledore's been visiting him every day and he should be alright." Mr. Weasley said.

"Unfortunately."

"Fred." Mr. Weasley said warningly.

"What about Harry's secret getting out! That fit the first clue." Ron argued.

"That could have been a coincidence." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Mum!" Ron began but his voice failed him when his mother pulled a letter out of her apron pocket.

"We got this the day after you three were sent away. It's from Hermione." She said.

Ron stared at the letter for a long while.

"What's it say?" Draco asked quietly.

Ron took the letter with a shaky hand. He unfolded it and saw that it was in fact Hermione's handwriting. He'd recognize the neat, flowing, penmanship anywhere.

"Dear Ron, Harry, and Draco,

I hope you three are staying out of trouble and having fun. Don't forget to be looking for any job openings. I hear there are some openings at Gringotts Ron you may want to ask your brother Bill about that.

This trip has been incredible. I've learned so much. So far we've been through the pyramids in Egypt. Soon we'll be going to America to visit with another touring group to discuss the different styles of wizardry used around the world. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! After America we're headed to Rome to look at the Coliseum. I doubt any of you remember but Professor Binns told us about a famous duel that took place there when Rome was still a powerful empire. It will be exciting to study the remains and research the battle in more detail.

I miss you all dreadfully and I can't wait to hear from you! Is there anything exciting happening? Let me know, I would hate to become so much more informed about the rest of the world just to lose touch with my family and friends. I'd best be off.

All my love, Hermione."

Ron finished reading and looked at Draco and Harry who were staring at him with expressionless faces.

"We wrote back to her saying that you were away. I'm sure she'll see what happened in a foreign paper since Harry is involved but we didn't think it was our place to tell her." Mrs. Weasley said.

"But mum this is two days old. Anything could have happened by now! We need to find out exactly where she is so…." Ron began but Mr. Weasley cut him off.

"I think you boys are very stressed out right now and that's perfectly understandable looking at everything you lot have been through the past few days. A bit of sleep in your own beds will do you a world of good. Tomorrow I will call Dumbledore and he will be able to tell us what to do about you three escaping from a ministry prison house."

Ron, Draco, and Harry stared at the Weasley parents in disbelief.

"You don't believe us?" Harry asked, his voice low but not as raspy as before.

"I believe that someone has been sending Draco these letters but the motives are all too clear boys. They are merely meant to trap you three." Mrs. Weasley said patiently.

"But…" Draco started but Mrs. Weasley raised her hand to cut him off.

"No more talk. I want you three up in bed right now. This matter is closed until a decent hour." She said.

When the boys tried to argue she ignored them, leaving them no choice but to drag themselves upstairs. Fred, George, and Ginny followed them. All six of them scrambled into Ron's room, sleep the farthest thing from their minds.

Harry immediately fell back on his pillows and draped an arm over his multicolored eyes. Ginny laid beside him with her head on his chest. Harry hesitated slightly before wrapping his other arm around her.

"So what's the plan?" George asked.

"What do you mean?" Ron said.

"Well you said you thought Mione was in trouble. What are you going to do about it?" Fred said.

"They don't believe us." Draco reminded them. Fred and George shared a knowing glance. Ron noticed.

"What?" he asked.

"Well we don't think it's that they don't believe you." George began.

"It might have to do with the fact that they've been really mellow about everything since Fudge told them to stop trying to find you three." Fred explained.

"We think they're under some sort of spell. Yesterday Ginny got into a fight with a group of customers at the shop because they were talking rubbish about you three. Well we came back and explained what had happened to Mum and Dad and they hardly reacted at all. Dad said we were just stressed out about what happened to you and Mum sent us to bed." George said.

"It was three o'clock in the afternoon." Fred added.

"Who would have done something like that?" Draco asked.

"I'll give you three guesses." George said darkly.

"Fudge?" Ron asked.

Fred and George nodded.

"He was getting frustrated with Dad poking around so much. I think it's happened to Lupin as well. The only one untouched might be Dumbledore." Fred said.

The group was silent.

"So we're on our own." Ron said.

"Again." George added.

"Which brings us around to where we started," Fred continued.

"What's the plan?" Fred and George said together.

"Well Hermione did tell us all the places she might be. It wasn't very specific but it's something." Draco said.

"She's either in Italy, America, or still in Egypt." Ron said looking back through the letter he still had in his hand.

"How are we going to narrow it down?" George asked. For a moment everyone was thoughtfully.

"Hedwig." Harry said in his new cracked voice. He didn't remove his arm as he spoke. "Owls can find anyone where ever they are right? Well if we send Hedwig one or two of us can follow her to where Hermione is."

"And the rest of us just sit around doing nothing?" Fred demanded.

"No whoever goes with Hedwig will find out how Hermione's doing and will send word back to the others." Harry explained.

"That sounds like an alright plan." Ron said. Fred and George agreed. Draco however looked less then sure.

"What's wrong Draco?" Fred asked.

"It seems a little risky for two of us to fly with an owl when we don't even know what we're getting in to. The Death Eater's could be waiting for us to show up if they've already got Hermione and we'd be flying right into a trap without any way to tell anyone what's happening." Draco said.

The group considered this.

"He's right." George agreed. Fred nodded.

"Well then what can we do?" Ron demanded angrily. "We can't just wait to hear what's happened. Hermione's muggleborn, the Death Eaters will kill her!" he growled.

"What about Harry's invisibility cloak?" Fred asked.

Everyone except Harry looked at him.

"We could use it like we did when we went to rescue Harry. We'll follow an owl, check things out and slip back out without ever getting seen by anyone." Fred explained.

"But the You Know Who knows about the cloak." Ron said.

"What difference does it make? As far as anyone knows you three are out of commission and you're the only ones who know what's going on. There's no reason for You Know Who to suspect something like this." Fred reasoned.

"Very good." George said.

"Thank you, I try." Fred answered with a smug grin.

"So what owl do we use?"

"I don't know where Hedwig is." Harry said.

"She was the one who delivered Hermione's letter." Ginny recalled.

"I brought her cage into my room from your place so that she could have company while you were gone." She continued.

"Alright we'll use Hedwig then."

"Whoever follows her has to make sure she's safe if something should happen." Harry warned them. He finally lowered his arm but hastily replaced it and leaned his head back when everyone in the room flinched upon seeing his eyes.

"Alright now all that's left is deciding who's going to go and when." Draco said.

"I am." Ron and George said together.

"Um Ron you're technically supposed to be in Ministry custody right now. If you get caught flying around, you'll be thrown into Azkaban this time. If I get caught it's not a big deal." George reasoned.

"But Hermione's my girlfriend." Ron said.

"That won't do you a lot of good if you're arse is in Azkaban." Fred snapped. He looked at his twin with an approving nod.

"George goes Harry are you sure you don't mind us using Hedwig?" Fred asked.

"Of course not. She'll understand that it's important. George can take my Firebolt as well." Harry said.

"Are you serious?!" George exclaimed. Harry grinned.

"Yeah it'll be faster that way but if you put so much as a scratch on it I'll have to kill you. Nothing personal you understand."

Everyone laughed even though Harry's strange new voice sounded eerie coming out of the raven haired boy's mouth.

"Well I'm off to bed all. I want to be completely awake if I'm going to be riding a Firebolt to another country." George said happily. He maneuvered his way out of the room.

"It's all settled then." Draco said. Everyone agreed.

Fred and Ginny headed to their own rooms. Ron and Draco climbed into their respective beds and shut off the light.

Reviews make my day amazing!


	8. Busted

The sun was high in the sky by the time George had packed food and retrieved Harry's invisibility cloak from Grimmauld Place. Hedwig sat on George's shoulder with a response letter to Hermione tied to her leg. If all was well she would deliver the letter and George would follow her back home.

Harry stroked his owl gently. Fred had transformed Harry's glasses into a pair of sleek black sunglasses to hide his discolored eyes. At first Harry hadn't wanted to wear them but decided that they were better than freaking everyone out every time they looked at him. There was nothing they could do about Harry's voice but that was much easier to ignore as long as he didn't talk too much.

George mounted the Firebolt after a final hug from everyone.

"You'd better be careful mate." Fred said firmly. He looked George square in the eyes as he spoke. George nodded once.

"I'll send word with a Patronus if something should go wrong."

Ron, Draco, Harry, Ginny, and Fred stepped back. Hedwig soared into the air. George draped the cloak over him and sped after her.

When Hedwig was no longer visible Fred nodded to the rest and headed into the house without a word. After a moment Draco, Harry, Ron, and Ginny followed him. In the kitchen Mrs. Weasley looked up from her cup of tea.

"Where's George gone?" she asked.

"He's visiting Lee for a while. He'll be back soon." Fred answered without stopping. In a flash he was headed up the stairs. Mrs. Weasley looked at the others.

"If George's gone to Lee's why didn't Fred go with him?" Mrs. Weasley asked suspiciously.

Ron and Ginny shrugged simultaneously and followed their brother upstairs. Draco followed them without any response at all. Harry moved to go after them but Mrs. Weasley called him back. Hesitating slightly Harry waved his friends on and walked over to sit beside Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry dear how are you feeling?" she asked. "That was a nasty experience yesterday."

"Er…I feel fine." He answered shortly. "My eyes are still off color."

Mrs. Weasley nodded.

"Do you know where George is going?" she asked.

"To Lee Jordan's house I expect." Harry answered.

"Are you quite sure that's the only place he's going?" Mrs. Weasley pressed.

"Unless I missed something." Harry lied.

His insides squirmed guiltily as Mrs. Weasley dismissed him and he moved towards the stairs.

Upstairs Ron, Draco, Ginny, and Fred sat waiting for him in Ron's room.

"I don't think she believes our story." Harry said.

"That's not our concern right now." Fred said dismissively. "Now we need to figure out how to get Ron and Draco's wands back. If something should happen they're going to need to protect themselves especially if you can't do magic Harry."

"Wait why can't I do magic?" Harry asked.

"Um Harry did you not notice what happens anytime you use magic?" Ron said incredulously. "I mean you were lucky you were able to control it better when we got here then when we were back at the prison house."

"I think the severity of the attacks depends on the amount and strength of magic used." Draco said thoughtfully.

"Anyway it means Harry can't do magic." Fred stated. "Now I have an idea but it's probably not the best one we could come up with so if anyone else has something better please let me know."

"Get on with it then." Ron said.

Fred explained his plan and when he finished everyone was staring at him as if he'd just suggested they try to hug the giant squid from the lake back at Hogwarts.

"Have you gone mental?" Ginny demanded.

"I said it wasn't the best idea." Fred said defensively.

"I kind of like it." Ron said. "I mean it'll be extremely difficult but how often do we have the chance to break the law right under the ministry's nose?"

"Pretty damn often apparently." Draco pointed out.

The group laughed lightly.

"Alright does everyone get the idea if what I was saying?" Fred asked. Everyone nodded. Harry crossed his arms over his chest.

"So you all get to do the fun stuff while I'm stuck here twiddling my thumbs?" He snapped.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably.

"What if Harry side along apparated with me?" Ron asked. "He wouldn't have to use any magic and he'd still be able to help."

CRASH!

The group leapt about a foot off their beds.

"What the hell?" Ginny demanded. She and Fred whipped out their wands and led the way out of Ron's room. They'd only made it to the top of the staircase when they heard furious voices from downstairs.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Moody bellowed.

"Shit." Ron, Harry, and Draco chorused together.

"I don't know what you're talking about Alastor." Mrs. Weasley said calmly. The teens sighed heavily. Even if Mrs. Weasley wasn't completely in the right mind she was at least not giving them away.

"Don't lie to us Molly. We know Malfoy, your son, and Potter are here. The prison house is destroyed. They're not at Grimmauld Place and there's nowhere else for them to go." Kingsley said.

"Bloody hell how many people are down there?" Ginny whispered urgently as footsteps echoed through the house.

"IMPERIO!" Moody shouted. "Tell me where Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Ron Weasley are."

"MUM!" Fred cried. He tore off down the stairs with the rest close on his heels. Ron, Harry, and Draco stopped on the second floor landing while Fred and Ginny sprinted the rest of the way down. They burst into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was pointing up the stairs with a glazed expression on her face.

"GET AWAY FROM MY MUM!" Fred bellowed. "Stupefy!"

Kingsley swatted the curse away.

"Calm down Fred. Your brother and his friends have escaped from the prison house. We only want to find them and take them in." he said smoothly.

Moody had ended the curse and Mrs. Weasley looked furious.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she hissed.

Moody ignored her and headed towards the stairs. Fred and Ginny blocked his way. The man didn't even hesitate before flicking his wand and sending the pair flying out of the way. Mrs. Weasley raised her wand.

"STUPEFY!" She bellowed.

Again Kingsley protected his comrade.

"Now honestly Molly." He said.

"ACCIO TRUNK!" Fred shouted.

Harry, Ron, and Draco dove to the ground as a massive trunk came zooming out of the twins' room. It flew down the stairs as if it'd been shot from a cannon. The trio heard the trunk explode a second later.

"ACCIO DRESSER!" Fred cried now.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Ginny shouted when Kingsley tried to stop Fred. The wizard looked surprised for a moment before pressing a button on the front of his shirt. It started blinking wildly. Another auror summoned Kingsley's wand out of Ginny's hands.

"Backups on its way Alastor!" he shouted.

"We won't need them!" Moody called back after he destroyed the dresser. His bum leg and the flying furniture was making the man's progress up the stairs quite slow but he was advancing none the less.

Harry gestured towards Ron and Malfoy who followed him into the twin's room.

"Grab the bed."

Harry moved towards the headboard of the bed and pulled it away from the wall so that he stood behind the bed. Ron and Malfoy stayed at the other end and pulled as Harry pushed. The bed edged towards the door but they quickly realized it wouldn't fit through the door. Harry squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed the bed tightly. Suddenly it was light as a feather and only the size of a text book.

"Harry!" Ron hissed.

"MOVE!" Harry growled. He ran forward and threw the bed down the stairs. As soon as he released it, it exploded to its normal size and weight. It crashed down the stairs and embedded itself into the walls.

Harry collapsed to his hands and knees.

"Get more stuff." He hissed. His body shook violently but Ron and Draco didn't dare go against what he said for fear of setting him off. They rushed back into the twins room. Moody couldn't blast through the bed since it was so much bigger than the other stuff. He'd end up getting hit with the debris.

Harry didn't react as Ron and Draco continued to throw more stuff down the stairs. He barely noticed as the voices of at least ten more ministry officials appeared downstairs.

"Mum get out of here!" Ron shouted. "Fred go with the plan we'll meet you!"

Harry growled as he clutched his throbbing head.

_Attack! Be strong, attack! _A voice kept chanting in Harry's head, making his heart speed up and his breathing to become more erratic as anger and power surged through his veins. _No they're your friends. _Harry's head throbbed nastily and he had to resist the urge to throw up. He felt a hand on his arm and swatted it away harshly. Harry shook his head so hard his glasses fell off but the movement seemed to easy the intensity of the pain enough for him to come up with an idea.

As soon as his heart rate finally began to slow slightly again he looked up. Ron and Draco gasped loudly. The red ring around Harry's eyes had gotten thicker. There was even less green or white showing in his eyes anymore. Harry felt around on the ground until he found his glasses which he promptly slid on. When he looked at Ron and Draco he felt the strong urge to attack them but he fought the feeling back.

"We've got to get out of here." Draco said.

Ron agreed.

"Alright Harry hold onto me I'm going to apparate us out of here."

Harry could only grunt a response through gritted teeth. He grabbed onto Ron's upper arm while Ron held onto both of Harry's shoulders firmly.

With a pop they were gone. Draco quickly followed.

A couple seconds later Moody sent the bed flying back up the stairs with bits of wall clinging to it. Moody burst onto the landing with about ten aurors behind him.

"Look everywhere." He growled.

The aurors spread out through the entire house. A few minutes later a young blonde auror appeared at Moody's side.

"There's no one here sir." He said.

Moody released a howl of fury and apparated away.


	9. Retrived

Ron, Draco, and Harry arrived in a dirty alley across the street from the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Fred and Ginny appeared from behind an old dumpster.

Harry was leaning heavily against Ron who barely staggered under his weight. Ginny rushed forward and draped Harry's other arm over her shoulder. Sweat coated his head and his entire body was shaking violently.

"What happened?" Fred asked.

"He used magic to stop Moody and all the aurors from getting up the stairs." Ron explained. He and Ginny led Harry over to a wall and helped him lean against it.

"Where's Mum?" Ron asked.

"She went to warn Dumbledore. She's back to herself since Moody used the Imperious curse on her for some reason." Ginny informed him. Harry groaned from the ground and shook his head slowly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You threw Fred's bed down the stairs." Draco reminded him.

"He did what?" Fred asked. Everyone ignored him.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because Moody was trying to get us." Ron said.

"Why?"

"Can we do this later?" Fred asked.

Ron nodded and turned back to Harry.

"Do you remember Fred's plan to get my and Draco's wands back?" he asked.

Harry furrowed his brow in concentration before he nodded slowly.

"I think so." He rasped. His voice was even more cracked than before so that it sounded a lot like a hiss.

"Alright well Ginny's already gotten the map. Let's go over this one last time." Fred said. "Ron you go in, find Percy and get him out of the way anyway you possibly can. Then I'll disguise myself as him and find out where the wands have been hidden. After that I'll come to wherever you're hiding, obliviate Percy's memory and send him on his merry way. Then we'll call Draco who will disillusion himself and follow Ginny's directions through the walkie to actually retrieve the wands. Ron and I will cause a distraction to get people away from the hiding place if necessary."

Everyone nodded. Fred handed Ron his walkie talkie.

"Where'd this come from?" Ron asked.

"I grabbed them from the shed before we left. I figured they might come in handy again." Fred said. Ron looked down at the walkie talkie.

"Good thinking."

Fred aimed his wand at Ron a few flicks of it and Ron's hair turned black, his eyes green, and his clothes into black robes. Everyone studied him.

"Great you don't look anything like yourself." Ginny said.

"Alright then well I'm off." He said.

Fred pointed at his watch.

"Ten minutes before we come in after you." He said.

Ron nodded and disappeared.

Draco knelt beside Harry who was still shaking and sweating. He pulled Harry's glasses off and immediately wished he hadn't. The once emerald orbs were now completely blood red with only the black dot that was his pupil in the middle. Harry blinked several times and stole his glasses back. There was a heavy, uncomfortably silence.

"Erm…any word from George?" Draco asked.

"I sent a Patronus to him saying not to go back to the Burrow but there's been nothing back yet." Fred said.

Draco nodded. Ginny was sitting in front of Harry, staring at him intently. It was impossible to tell whether Harry saw this or not. He was facing Ginny but there was no way to tell where his eyes were looking. He kept balling his hands into fists and relaxing them again, trying to get them to stop shaking but it was no good.

"Harry?" Ginny said softly. Harry ignored her.

"Harry?" she said again.

Tighten, relax, tighten, relax

Ginny reached out and put her hands on either side of Harry's face. His hands froze.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

For a long time Harry was silent. Ginny felt him shaking under her hands but she continued to stare intently into the reflective lens of his glasses.

"I don't know." He whispered.

Fred and Draco watched the pair but remained silent.

"What happens when you use magic?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head and Ginny kept her hands firmly on his face.

"My heart…races." He confessed. "My head hurts so bad." Harry tried to clear his throat. "A-and this voice…in my head…it tells me to attack. It tells me not to be weak."

"Who's voice is it?" Ginny pressed.

Harry shook his head again.

"I don't know." He said.

The other walkie talkie in Fred's pocket crackled to life. Fred ripped it out quickly.

"Go Ron." He said.

"I've got Percy in the bathroom on the third floor down the hall from his office. It's your move." Ron's voice answered.

Fred pulled out a third and fourth walkie and tossed them to Draco who caught them and looked at one uncertainly.

"What is this?" he asked.

Fred quickly explained.

"Well that's just stupid." Draco said firmly.

"What?" Fred asked incredulously.

"If muggles were so smart they would have made something so that we wouldn't have to press the bloody button." Draco said. "OUCH!"

Fred had just smacked him upside the head. Fred aimed his wand at himself and within seconds Percy stood in Fred's place.

"Fifteen minutes." He said, handing his watch over to Draco as well. The blonde nodded. Fred disapperated.

Ginny's focus had never left her boyfriend who was shaking considerably less now but his forehead was still shiny with sweat.

"I'm sorry Ginny." Harry whispered.

"For what?"

"I almost attacked you. I could have…" Harry hung his head in distress. Ginny forced him to look back up at her.

"But you didn't. You fought it." Ginny said bracingly.

"But…" Harry began. He was cut off however by a blinding white flash. A voice echoed through the small alley.

"Return home quickly." The voice ordered.

Ginny released Harry's face and looked up at Draco who was staring at the white light until it disappeared.

"That sounded like Dumbledore." She said.

"But how?" Draco began. Suddenly his walkie talkie crackled to life.

"Go ahead Fred." Draco said.

"They're in the back office of the aurors briefing room. There are three guards and a fair few aurors in there waiting for word from the group at the Burrow. We'll take care of them. You go."

As Fred had been talking Ginny spread the map out on the ground.

"Got it." Draco answered. He pocketed the talkie and knelt beside the red headed girl. Ginny scanned the map with her eyes and fingers. Finally she stabbed a spot in the center of the second floor. Ginny set her wand tip to the paper and traced a dark black line from the briefing room out of the Ministry. Draco watched her progress.

"Alright it looks like this is going to be your best bet. It's not the most direct route but you'll meet fewer people. I remember my dad taking me through here when he brought me to work one time." She said.

Draco nodded and handed her one of the walkies. Ginny switched it on.

"I'll call you when I'm ready." He said.

Ginny nodded and warned him to be careful and only to talk when the coast was completely clear or he'd give himself away. Draco said he understood and disappeared. Ginny quickly turned back to her boyfriend who was seemed to be staring at the map intently.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. Harry didn't respond right away. Instead he traced Ginny's line with one hand.

"Tell Fred and Ron to lead the aurors down this way." Harry said.

"But that will lead them straight to Draco."

"I know but if all the aurors head one way, someone might get suspicious and go the other. If Draco follows the path you set for him but goes through this set of offices right here, he'll avoid the aurors and someone else might cover the other way. When they don't find anyone, they'll be all confused and Draco will have clear shot." Harry explained.

Ginny stared at the map and as far as she could tell her boyfriend was right.

"Fred." She said into her walkie.

"Everything alright?" Fred asked.

"Harry says to lead the aurors down the hall in front of the Illegal Breeding office."

"Why?" Fred questioned.

"Just do it." Ginny answered. There was a short pause.

"Alright."

A split second later, Draco's voice joined the conversation.

"I'm in." he whispered.

"Okay find the last elevator and go through the door to its left." Ginny instructed.

"Got it." Draco answered.

Harry and Ginny knelt side by side staring at the map, waiting for Draco to respond.

"Are you going to be alright?" Ginny asked him quietly. Harry looked at her but didn't answer. Ginny nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. Harry put his head on hers. His heart rate had slowed noticeably and his body barely shook.

"Next." Draco asked. Ginny looked back at the map.

"There should be two doors in this room. It's where they used to keep the owls before they used inter-office memos. Go through the door at the far end, go down that hall, and take a left at the end. There should be a staircase a few feet into that hall."

"Alright."

"Fred, Ron start getting ready." Ginny said.

"Just give the word." Fred answered.

Ginny lowered her walkie talkie.

"What do you suppose Dumbledore wants?" Harry croaked. Ginny shrugged.

"Probably wants to know why and how you three escaped the prison house." She said.

Harry nodded.

"How did that happen by the way?" Ginny asked.

Harry shrugged.

"According to Ron and Draco it sounds like it started with a pillow fight."

Ginny laughed.

"You're joking." She said.

Harry shrugged again and spread his hands innocently.

"That's what they told me. Who am I to question them? We were stuck in that incredibly boring house for three whole days you know so a pillow fight doesn't seem too farfetched." He said.

"I'm on the second floor." Draco said breathlessly. Ginny picked up the walkie and looked back at the map.

"Okay wait right there for a minute. Fred and Ron should be stirring up some trouble with the aurors. When you hear them coming go through the door straight ahead of you. That's the office of the head of the Illegal Breeding of Magical Creatures department. The commotion should get him to look out the door to check things out, you can slip in when he does. Once you're in go right back out through the door on the other side of the room. This one leads to the meeting room." Ginny said.

For a second there was nothing but silence.

"Alright I have no idea what your brothers have done but they've got everyone in quite a panic. I don't think it's only aurors chasing them."

"Fred, Ron, come in." Ginny hissed.

"We're a little busy Gin." Fred snapped.

"What are you two doing?"

"Distracting. Tell Draco to get a move on, everyone's out." Fred answered.

"Go Draco you've got one more hall to go. Take a left and you should be there." Ginny spoke into the walkie.

"I see it!"

Ginny felt her heart race with excitement.

"Shit it's locked! The bloody door is locked!" Draco growled.

Ginny smacked herself on the head.

"Why didn't we think of that?"

"Hang on I'll be there in a second." Fred called through the talkies.

"Be careful you lot!" Ginny said into the walkie.

Ginny and Harry stared at the walkie talkie for what felt like ages. Ginny bounced slightly on the balls of her feet. Harry laid his hand on her knee and looked into her eyes.

"They'll be fine." He said firmly.

Ginny nodded and released a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding.

"WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED!" Fred called into the walkie.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Ginny shouted back. She and Harry jumped to their feet and stared at the walkie as if the others would pop out of it any second. Suddenly the alley exploded with pops.

"LET'S GO!" Ron bellowed. He grabbed Harry's arms and disapperated, Fred, Ginny, and Draco right behind him.


	10. Fawks

Harry, Ron, Draco, Fred, and Ginny fell in a heap when the apparated into the alley down the street from Grimmauld Place. Ron and Draco hopped up first and quickly began dragging the rest up after them.

"Come up, come on." Ron hissed as he lifted Harry onto his feet. After a few steps Harry pushed Ron away so that he was standing on his own. Ron hesitated slightly as Fred, Ginny, and Draco pulled ahead towards Grimmauld Place. Harry nodded at his friend and took off running after them.

Within seconds Harry and Ron caught up to their friends. Grimmauld finally appeared and the teens dove through the door into another heap.

"It's about time you lot got here!" Mrs. Weasley said hysterically. He began dragging the teens to their feet and hugging each of them in turn.

"Mum…" Ron groaned as his mother kissed both sides of his face multiple times.

"Why are you crying?" Ginny asked.

Mrs. Weasley hugged her daughter for a second time. Harry and Draco looked at each other uncertainly and headed farther into the house. Dumbledore followed George and Hermione who both looked very pale, towards the new arrivals. Hermione dove into Ron's arms and cried into his shoulder. Tears poured down Ron's face as well as he ran his fingers through Hermione's hair. George was staring at Fred who looked concerned.

"What happened?" Fred asked.

"I arrived right before the Death Eaters did." George answered quietly. "There were so many I knew I couldn't take them alone. I grabbed Hermione and we got out of there but we couldn't help the rest of the tour group." He dug around in his pocket and handed Draco a letter.

"A black owl delivered it." He explained.

Fred pulled his twin into a hug as Draco unfolded the letter and read it aloud.

"_Draco, _

_It seems you were able to figure out the last clue and saved the Mudblood. Fortunately in her place we now have ten young witches and wizards with whom we can do whatever we like. Starting from the moment the owl returns from delivering this letter you will have half an hour to turn yourself, Harry Potter, and Ronald Weasley over to the Dark Lord. If you choose not to follow through with this demand we will kill one of these students. You will then have another half hour until we kill the next one. A portkey in the form of a woman's dress shoe has been placed on the grave of Narcissa Malfoy. _

_This will be prove to be much more entertaining than simply torturing the Mudblood girl as we'd planned. Remember in thirty minutes one of these ten will die and rest assured a letter will be sent to their families explaining how the great Harry Potter refused to meet a simple demand that would have spared their son or daughter's life."_

Draco looked up from the paper and found everyone staring at him as if it had been he who'd written the despicable words.

"What are we going to do? Those people are my friends. We can't just let them die." Hermione cried. Ron continued to hold her and whispered comforting words into her ear.

"We're going to turn ourselves over of course." Harry said. His voice startled George and Hermione slightly since they hadn't heard it since Harry's incident at the Burrow. Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley however looked completely flabbergasted.

"Harry…" Dumbledore said, staring at his charge with extreme concern etched all over his face.

"It's not just his voice that's changed sir." Draco said. He reached out and snatched Harry's glasses away. Harry tried to stop him but was too slow.

Everyone gasped upon seeing his completely red eyes. Harry squeezed them shut and held out his hand until Draco gave the glasses back. Even with the glasses back on his face Harry didn't look at anyone.

"When did this start?" Dumbledore asked.

Draco and Ron took turns explaining everything that had happened, starting from the moment Harry blew up the prison house.

"And then when he threw the bed down the stairs at Moody and the aurors he collapsed again and this time there was even more redness but it wasn't this bad." Ron explained.

"I suppose the apparations did have some sort of effect on Harry even though it wasn't he who preformed them." Draco reasoned. At this point everyone looked at Harry who was sitting on the couch with his hands clasped in front of him and his elbows resting on his knees. The last apparation had started up his trembling again.

Dumbledore took a few careful steps towards the distraught teen.

"Harry." He said softly.

Harry ignored him and stared intently into the empty fireplace. He felt the couch sag slightly when Dumbledore sat beside him.

"Will you let me try to help you?" he asked.

Harry answered without looking at the man.

"How? We don't even know what's wrong with me." Harry grumbled. "Besides we should be focusing on helping the tour group students."

"Right now this is more important." Dumbledore argued. He turned to the fire and called out the name of his pet Phoenix, Fawks.

In an explosion of bright orange flames a handsome red-gold Phoenix appeared in the fireplace. He soared up to the ceiling before landing lighting on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"I am no healer but I believe that you may have suffered some nerve damage from the prison house. It is very unlikely that you escaped firing a spell as powerful as yours and having it rebound back into you unscathed. It is my hope that Fawk's tears might be enough to heal this damage." Dumbledore tilted his head towards the bird and whispered something to it. With a soft cry Fawks flew upwards again and this time landed on Harry's knee. Harry looked at the bird and smiled slightly.

"Hello Fawks." He said remembering the first time he'd met the magnificent creature back in his second year at Hogwarts. The Phoenix reached out with its beak and stole Harry's glasses away. Harry tried to snatch them back but Dumbledore stopped him.

"Lean back Harry." He instructed.

Not wanting to waste even more time arguing Harry did as he was told. He leaned his head all the way back against the couch so that he was staring straight up to the ceiling. Harry felt Fawk's weight shift as the bird moved up his leg to his stomach and his chest, finally coming to rest on Harry's shoulder.

"Keep your eyes wide open Harry." Dumbledore instructed.

Harry did so until a pearly tear drop rolled from Fawks' eye and landed in Harry's own. Harry blinked several times in surprise as a cool sensation flowed through his body. Then Fawks walked back down onto Harry's chest and then over to his other shoulder. Harry kept his eyes open again as another Phoenix tear dropped into his eye and spread an even colder feeling through his entire body. Fawks flew over to Dumbledore's shoulder. For a moment Harry felt almost too cold to move. Panic began to kick in when he couldn't even wiggle his fingers.

"Relax Harry focus on the tears reaching every nerve." Dumbledore said smoothly.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated as Dumbledore had said. Unlike the time in his second year when the tears mended his arm in a flash, this seemed to be taking quite a lot longer. Finally the iciness gave way to a flood of warmth. Harry opened his eyes and looked at his hands. They were completely still. He looked up at Fawks.

"Thanks." He said.

"What about your eyes?" Hermione asked.

Harry slowly reached up and took his glasses off. He could practically feel the disappointment from his friends. He quickly put the glasses back on.

"Why are they still red like that?" Ron asked.

"I do not know." Dumbledore admitted.

"Can you do magic?" Draco questioned.

Harry looked around and aimed his hand at a chair sitting in a far corner. He took a deep breath and concentrated.

"Accio chair." He said.

The chair flew towards him and stopped a few inches from his knees. Harry waited for pain to surge through him but felt it only in one area. His hands flew to the sides of his head.

"Damn it." He said through clenched teeth but the pain passed quickly. He looked at his hands and saw they weren't shaking.

"Wellt hat's defiantly an improvement." Harry said.

"But…" George started but Harry cut him off.

"This isn't important right now, let's concentrate on coming up with a plan." Harry said firmly. His friends reluctantly agreed and sat down around the living room.

"How much longer do we have?" Harry asked. Fred looked at his watch which Draco had returned to him.

"Well we can't know if the owls returned from its delivery yet or not but if we go from when it left here we've got less than twenty minutes." Fred explained.

Everyone nodded.

"Does anyone have any ideas?" Ron asked.

At first everyone was silent and then all at once they began spewing ideas left and right. Dumbledore raised a hand to silence them.

"Let's try this one at a time." He said. "Molly."

Everyone took a turn sharing a plan but someone else always found a way to poke a hole into it. Finally all the ideas were spent and everyone fell silent.

"Well we're not going to get anywhere like this." Fred said needlessly as he looked at his watch.

"Ten minutes."

Hermione looked around wildly.

"We have to do something. If even one of those people get killed because we couldn't come up with some sort of plan." She said, struggling to keep her voice even.

"Normally I would suggest calling in more help but unfortunately with the newspaper articles that have been circulating I cannot guarantee anyone would be willing to help us." Dumbledore said. Harry, Ron, and Draco nodded in understanding.

"Well so far this is what it looks like to me." Ron said. "We've been called to go to You-Know-Who's lair where he's more than likely going to, let's be honest, kill us. He's holding ten, newly graduated students hostage to make sure we actually show up. What's to say he's actually going to let them go once we show up?"

"Ron's right. We're going to have to figure a way to get them out first." Draco agreed.

"I'll bet they'll be under really heavy security after what happened when Ron and I visited Draco in the dungeons." Fred said.

"So it might not work out to try and show up unnoticed, free the tour group and then once they're out we can take care of…of whatever else we need to take care of." Ron said.

There was a thoughtful pause.

"What if you three showed up and kept the Death Eater's and You-Know-Who busy?" Ginny suggested suddenly. "Fred already knows the way around the dungeons right?" she asked her brother.

Fred nodded.

"That's right." He said.

"Well while Ron, Draco, and Harry are doing what they need to do Fred can lead George, Hermione, and I around in the dungeons. We can lead the tour group out in groups so that it will hopefully be a little less noticeable!" Ginny said excitedly.

"What about the guards in the dungeons?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"We can take care of them." Fred and George said together. They looked at each other and grinned evilly. Fred looked at his watch.

"We've got a few minutes." He said, the smile melting off his face.

"How are you four going to show up unnoticed?" Harry asked.

"Invisibility cloak?" George suggested holding up the silvery cloak.

"Not all four of us will fit under there, three maybe but not four." Ginny reasoned. "I don't like it but I think I'm going to have to stay behind. Fred knows the dungeons, George is a better dueler then me, and Hermione the tour group will know they can trust you so it'll be easier to get them to follow if you're there."

Mrs. Weasley hugged her daughter wordlessly.

"Alright Fred and George, get whatever you need for distractions." Harry said, "Hermione you'll come with us to the portkey so that you can track us because I don't think it would be smart for us all to arrive at together in case they're waiting for us."

Fred and George leapt up and rushed for the fireplace. Dumbledore told them to wait as he removed the block he'd put on it so that no unwanted visitors could pop in. Finally they disappeared. Harry looked at Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley when he stood.

"Could you two be ready at Hogwarts? I think that's where we should take the tour group. It's the safest and if you can get a hold of Madame Pomfrey she'll be able to help them if any of them are hurt."

"Harry we've got to go." Ron said from the door. Draco and Hermione stood beside him. Harry nodded.

"Be careful all of you." Dumbledore said. Mrs. Weasley brushed tears out of eyes as she waved them off.

The group rushed to the apparation point.

"I'll get the portkey and come back here since none of you know where my mum's buried. "

Without waiting for a comment from his friends Draco disappeared. Just as he left Fred and George appeared. Each held a small bag of stuff presumably from their shop. Hermione explained that they would be following after Harry, Ron, and Draco portkeyed away. Suddenly with a soft pop Draco reappeared. He held out the shoe. Ron and Harry each put a finger to it. Fred looked at his watch.

"Alright be careful you three." He said.

"Same to you." Harry said before he felt the familiar tug around his naval and the alley around him disappeared.

Heartfelt thanks to those of you who've reviewed especially Dezra! This stories almost over but I'm still open for suggestions on how you think it should end or anything else you want to see before I wrap it up. REVIEWS MAKE MY DAY


	11. battles

Hermione cast the tracking charm just as the boys disappeared from view. She felt her wand vibrate slightly under her fingertips as it fought to hold the connection. After a minute she nodded to Fred and George.

"They made it." She said.

Fred and George secured their bags over their shoulders and pulled out their own wands. George draped the cloak over the three of them.

"Well this is cozy." Fred muttered.

Hermione and George chuckled nervously. Hermione eyed their bags.

"What's in there?" she asked as the twins touched the tips of their wands to hers. The pair merely grinned.

"We call it our Rescue kit." George answered. Finally all three of them were tracking.

"Alright on the count of three." Fred said. The others nodded and began to focus as soon as he began counting down.

"Three." He said.

"Two." George muttered.

"One." Hermione finished.

With a resounding pop the trio disappeared.

Draco, Ron, and Harry caught each other as the portkey finally stopped spinning. They managed to stay standing long enough to be brought to their knees by a round of cruciatus curses coming from seemingly nowhere. When the curses were lifted a moment later the trio looked up to see Bellatrix Lestrange standing in front of Voldemort and clinging tightly to a blonde witch Harry recognized to be Gabrielle Delacour. Tears were streaming down the young witch's face as Lucius raised his wand at her. Twenty Death Eaters formed a tight circle around Bellatrix, Lucius, the Dark Lord, Harry, Ron, and Draco.

Voldemort watched Harry with cold eyes.

"You're time is up Potter." He growled.

"Avada…" Lucius began.

"Bombarda!" Draco shouted just as Harry raised his own wand to fire.

Lucius was blasted away from Gabrielle who was sobbing harder than ever but seemed paralyzed by fear. Ron quickly blasted the shocked Bellatrix as well. Finally free of the witch's grasp feeling returned to Gabrielle's legs and she ran forward into Harry's arms.

Surprised by the speed of everything that had just happened the circle of Death Eaters hadn't had time to react. Voldemort himself seemed caught off guard. Lucius and Bellatrix were livid as they stood and took their places on either side of the Dark Lord.

Gabrielle struggled to pull herself together as she clung to the front of Harry's robes. Harry had one arm wrapped protectively around her while he held his wand out in front of him. Draco and Ron each had their wands out and edged slightly behind Harry so that they all formed a triangle.

"You went through a lot of trouble to get us here." Harry said. Pain had surged through his head and coupled with the cruciatus curses as soon as the portkey had landed. Harry felt power streaming through his veins.

_Attack! NOW! _Harry ignored the angry hiss of a voice in his head.

"Was there a reason or do you just get off on tracking teenagers all over the place." He snapped.

Harry twisted around to put himself between Gabrielle and the torture curse that Voldemort fired at him. Harry gritted his teeth against the pain and waited for the curse to end. Finally it did. He turned to face Voldemort again but kept Gabrielle, who was shaking uncontrollably, behind him so that she was in the center of the triangle the boys formed.

"Someone in your position might think twice about how they spoke when they are surrounded by people who would like nothing more than to kill." Voldemort hissed.

"Someone in your position might think twice about having this many of your followers around to see me defeat you again." Harry snapped. He inwardly cringed. Where the bloody hell did that come from?

_You can kill him. You can kill them all. You have the power! _A tiny but steadily intensifying voice hissed in Harry's head. Where had he heard that voice before?

Another round of Cruciatus curses yanked Harry back to circle, back to the present and most importantly out of his own head. Breathing heavily, Harry stood. He could feel his friends shifting uneasily. Neither of them moved to help him up for fear of getting struck down by a cheap shot from behind.

When Harry looked up he saw that Voldemort, Lucius, and Bellatrix had stepped out of the circle and the other Death Eaters had moved in closer to the trio. Gabrielle had a death grip on the back of Harry's robes but he paid no attention.

Fred, Hermione, and George landed in a heap under the invisibility cloak. They were quick to straighten themselves up and fix the cloak around them.

From where they landed they could see the circle of Death Eaters but no sign of Draco, Ron, or Harry. Hermione looked up the twins with worry stricken eyes. George patted her arm gently.

"They've got their mission and we've got ours." He said simply.

Hermione could tell that her friends were scared as well but they were choosing to put their feelings aside for the time being. Hermione nodded and tried to do the same.

"Alright let's go." Hermione said.

The trio made their way up to the castle. At the door Fred opened his bag and pulled out what looked like a long thread of flesh colored string with an odd shaped ball at the end.

"This is one of our newer inventions. It's based off of the Extendable Ears but now instead of just hearing, we can see what's happening too." Fred explained to Hermione.

"Clever." she said approvingly.

Fred aimed his wand at the ball on the end of the string and with a flick the ball shrunk so that it could fit through the tiny space under the door. Hermione and George watched as Fred eased the extendable though the crack before sticking part of it in his ear. With another tap of his wand the string split in two. He cupped his hands and held the end of the second part of the string up to his eyes.

After a moment he pulled his creation out and put it back in his bag.

"Alright there are five Death Eaters right on the other side; two on the left, two on the right, and one guarding the door at the far end. We need to get through the door on the right but make them think we're going somewhere else." Fred explained.

"I know a charm to throw sound from one place to another." Hermione said.

"Good we can use that with the image projector I brought. All I have to do is imagine the three of us running to the left side of the room and the projector will produce life sized holograms." George said pulling what looked like a black, fist sized ball out of his bag.

"That's incredible." Hermione praised.

Fred nodded and the three of them raised their wands. Hermione reached out and grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. A fraction of a second later George sent the ball rolling.

"STUPEFY!" the Death Eaters shouted in unison. George waved his wand and the ball flashed slightly before projecting a moving picture of him, Fred, and Hermione running through the door.

"GET THEM!" The man at the far end of the room shouted.

Spells shot at the projections in rapid succession. George waved his wand to make the projections dodge and run just as he, Hermione, and Fred slipped the rest of the way into the castle. Hermione put her wand to her throat and whispered a spell before screaming in terror but instead of hearing it directly in their ears Fred and George could have sworn Hermione was across the room with the projections. Hermione quickly put the wand to George's throat. He screamed as well and instructed Fred to do something. Hermione swung her wand to Fred's throat just as he shouted a stunning spell at the man across the room. He dropped.

All the while they were doing this the trio edged closer to the right side of the room. George waved his wand and had Fred and Hermione's projections duck behind a table. The real Hermione put her wand to his throat. Fred raised his wand.

"Reducto!" George shouted.

Fred said the spell under his breath and the table he and Hermione appeared to be hiding behind went up in a cloud of dust. The Death Eaters were running around wildly.

"Where's it coming from?!" one of the Death Eaters on the right side shouted.

Hermione raised her wand to her own throat.

"Through the door hurry!" she shouted.

George waved his wand and sent the projections and the ball heading towards the now open doorway where the fallen Death Eater lay stunned.

"Stop them!"

All four Death Eaters dove forward at the same time. Fred, George, and Hermione ran forward as quickly as they could and dove through the door on the right side of the large room. George ended the connection with the ball and heard the Death Eaters howl in fury as the subjects they'd been chasing disappeared.

Fred grinned.

"That was fun." He said.

Hermione and George nodded in agreement.

On either side of him Harry felt Ron and Draco tense as all the Death Eaters began to shift closer together.

"It was interesting watching you train under Bellatrix, Harry." Voldemort said smoothly. "You and young Malfoy became quite the team. This training will of course enable you two to predict your opponent's next moves and allow you to act accordingly." Harry could practically hear the smile behind Voldemort's voice when he spoke next. "How, I wonder, will your…sidekick…be able to fight? He has had no outstanding training. He has no exceptional power. Perhaps my Death Eaters should take care of him first. It would be doing you a great service Harry. He would no longer be there to hold you back from your true potential." Voldemort droned on.

Harry felt his own face heat up with anger but knew it was nothing compared to what was probably going on in Ron's head right now. Harry chanced a glance out of the corner of his glasses towards his friend. He could tell Ron was shaking out of pure anger.

"Keep in mind Potter I have a dungeon full of terrified young people in my dungeons. All of whom will be killed should you fail to save them which is, of course, impossible."

Bellatrix laughed maniacally. She spun her wand in her fingers, her eyes never leaving the group in the center of the circle.

Harry's eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on his wand. He was ready for this but an unsettling thought occurred to him. _Was_ Ron at a disadvantage? Harry shook his head. Of course not, Ron's a great fighter, especially when he's angry. And Voldemort obviously didn't know about all the training Harry had given during the days of the D.A.

"_But he still can't fight as well as you. You can take this whole lot out alone!" _That annoyingly familiar voice said in Harry's head.

"Don't kill Potter." Voldemort said sharply.

Fred led George and Hermione down the torch lit corridors, walking straight past the antechambers he remembered Theodore and Blaise ignoring when Fred and Ron had followed them through the dungeons the first time. Finally they reached the forked part of the corridor Fred recalled but this time was different. Both corridors were completly black and there were no voices guiding the way. Fred's hesitation didn't go unnoticed by his brother.

"What's wrong?" George whispered.

"Last time the right side was lit up and Ron and I were following Zabini and Nott." Fred gestured to the two darkened corridors. "I dunno which way to go this time and the extendables don't work as well in the dark." He admitted.

For a long time the trio was quiet.

"Oh!" Hermione whispered suddenly. "How could I have been so stupid?" she asked, shaking her head. Fred and George stared at her blankly.

"The tour guide taught us a simple spell to use when we explored the Egyptian Pyramids. We were supposed to use it if we got separated from the group." Hermione's excited face fell.

"If I use it the Death Eater's will be able to see it as well." She said.

Fred and George glanced at each other.

"There can't be too many of them down here. They're probably all out dealing with Ron, Harry, and Draco." Fred began.

"We'll take care of the Death Eaters so that you can get to the group." George explained to Hermione.

"We're going to have to take off the cloak I think." Fred said. The other two agreed.

Fred pulled the cloak off of them and put it into his bag and nodded to Hermione.

"reperio insigne." She muttered. A thin thread of golden light slithered out of the tip of her wand and down to the ground. The trio watched as the light cut through the blackness of the left corridor like a knife. Hermione walked forward with Fred and George on either side of her; both with wands held at the ready.

Spells came from twenty different directions all at once. Harry and Draco instinctively threw up bubble shields. Ron had fired a stunner which took down an unsuspecting Death Eater.

"Attack on three." Harry said. The Death eaters closest to him heard quickly threw up shields others quickly followed suit. Harry had been expecting this.

"Back Now!" he shouted.

"Bombarda!"

"Stupefy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

Draco, Ron, and Harry all fired towards the Death Eaters farthest from the shield.

Seven or eight wands soared at the group in the center. The same number of Death Eaters was blasted backwards and lay stunned several feet away. Ron quickly threw up another shield that immediately began to crack as the Death Eaters attacked it mercilessly. Harry scooped up the wands and handed them to Gabrielle.

"Pick one, break the rest." Harry instructed her before turning back to shoot spells through an opening he created in Ron's shield. The witch nodded. Her tear stained face looked both terrified and determined as she held up each wand one at time.

The Death Eaters had shifted to cover the empty space left by their fallen comrades. Ron's shield finally shattered with such force that he stumbled backwards into Gabrielle who fell into Draco. Draco lost his footing and collapsed with the other two on top of him. Harry, unaware any of this had happened took a step backwards to meet back up with the protective touch of his friends but instead tripped on Draco's robes. Harry fell heavily onto Ron who grunted as the air was knocked out of him.

"Protego Maxima!" Harry shouted after rolling quickly off his friend and kneeling beside him. A huge dome shaped shield surrounded the fallen group. Ron's face was red with embarrassment and frustration as he quickly rolled off of Gabrielle. He helped her up so that Draco could stand. Ron muttered an apology but pained groans from Harry grabbed their attention.

"Harry?" Ron said a split second before Harry collapsed to his knees.

Fred, George, and Hermione walked slowly as the golden light grew more intense the farther down the corridor they traveled.

"It gets brighter the closer I get to the other tour members. It's attracted to the magic in our name badges." She whispered to Fred and George.

The twins nodded without looking at the witch.

Soon the sound of shuffling bodies and agitated voices echoed through the long, empty corridor.

Fred motioned for the others to stop. They did so and waited for him to dig around in his bag until he pulled out the extendables. Fred unrolled the flesh colored thread and dropped the ball to the ground. He separated the ear piece from the looking hole. As if reading his brother's mind George lifted his wand and used a repelling charm to send the ball rolling down the corridor. Fred kicked out his right foot as a signal to stop the charm. George did so. For a moment no one moved. Finally Fred looked up, his face lit eerily from the golden glow of Hermione's spell.

"Ten Death Eaters total. Five following the light." Fred said in an urgent whisper.

As if on cue the sound of quick footsteps and hushed voices floated down the corridor towards the trio. Hermione quickly ended the spell and the footsteps quickened.

"Stupefy!" one of the Death Eaters shouted.

George threw up a quick shield.

"Impedimenta!" A second Death Eater shot.

"Protego! Stupefy!" Fred called, dropping the extendables.

"ventus" A powerful wind burst out of the tip of Hermione's wand. She heard the Death Eaters try and fail to block it.

"Come on!" Fred shouted after they heard the Death Eaters land with several dull thumps. Hermione, Fred, and George took off running through the dark corridor. Hermione put up her locating spell once more just in time to illuminate several more Death Eaters trying to sneak up on them.

"Flippendo!" George shouted at one. The spell caught the nearest Death Eater in the leg, knocking him off balance and sending him crashing to the ground.

"funis." Fred shouted. A long bit of rope shot out of Fred's wand. He tossed the other end to George who caught it in one hand holding his wand high with the other.

"Go!" George shouted. With identical war cries the pair ran farther into the corridor.

Hermione heard George shouting several curses until one was cut off with a pained cry. For a moment Hermione considered running to help her friend but she knew she had a job to do. Fred and George could take care of themselves for now.

The Death Eaters had left the cell door containing all eight of the remaining tour group students. All of them had their hands bound behind their backs and had gags in their mouths. Hermione quickly unlocked the door and rushed forward to help them. She knelt in front of Sally-Anne Perks, the only other Hogwarts student besides Hermione in the tour group. The girl had streams of tears pouring down her cheeks. As soon as her hands were free Sally-Anne threw her arms around Hermione's neck in a desperate hug as sobs shook her body.

"Th-they took Gabrielle!" she sobbed hysterically. "W-we tried t-t-to stop them b-b-ut." The rest of her words were drowned out by tears. Hermione gently pushed the girl away from her.

"Sally-Anne you've got to pull yourself together. I understand you're scared but we have to get out of here." She said.

Sally-Anne shook her head violently.

"We're going to die! T-they're g-oing to kill us all!" she cried. Hermione shushed the girl and began to free rest of her friends. Sally-Anne was no help as she sat, hugging her knees to her chest and crying uncontrollably. Hermione could easily see that the rest of the group was barely holding themselves together.

When Fred and George came sprinting into the cell, breathing heavily and sporting black eyes and other cuts and scrapes, all eight hostages flinched violently. The guys in the group couldn't even hide their absolute terror.

"Don't worry they're here to help." Hermione soothed them.

"We've got to get out her here Mione." George urged.

Hermione nodded.

"Can all of you walk?" she asked. Everyone nodded grimly and stood on shaky legs. An American girl named Julie helped Sally-Anne to stand as well.

George dug around in his bag until he pulled out nine realistic looking wands. He handed one to each person.

"These are completely fake but it'll look like you're all armed." He explained quickly. George glanced at Hermione when he realized he was still holding a fake wand.

"Weren't there ten of you?" he asked. At these words Sally-Anne began to sob, even harder.

Julie immediately tried to calm the hysterical girl but the tears streaming out of her own eyes did little to help sooth Sally-Anne.

"Well come on." Fred instructed. After a few seconds of urging from Hermione the tour group began to follow Fred and George out of the cell. The trip back out of the dungeon was much faster than the journey into it.

Before they knew it the group had arrived at the door leading back up to the main part of the castle. Fred and George led the way up the short flight of stairs and stopped at the door. Having left the extendables back at the other end of the corridor they weren't able to check for Death Eaters.

Fred pushed the door open while George lifted his wand and threw up a shield. This proved to be a good idea. The four Death Eaters that the trio had tricked when they first made it into the castle stood on the other side with their wands raised. They'd gone to get back up but there were no more Death Eaters available since the rest were outside with the Dark Lord.

"Bloody hell!" Fred exclaimed as spells pounded on George's shield. Fred quickly threw his power behind the shield as well to help his brother. Behind them the tour group was panicking and seemed stuck between running for their lives and being frozen in fear. Hermione pushed her way to the front of them and shouted her windstorm spell succeeding in sending the Death Eaters flying far enough backwards for the teenagers to get completely out of the dungeon.

Draco and Ron began to fend off curses and shoot off a few of their own while trying to check on their friend.

Gabrielle knelt beside Harry and put her hand under his chin to make him look at her.

"'arry?" she said in her thick French accent. When she could finally see all of Harry's face she gasped.

Blood was seeping out from under Harry's sunglasses like tears.

"'arry, you are bleeding." Gabrielle said in surprise.

Harry looked at his hands and saw that they were beginning to tremble again but this time sparks kept shooting out of his finger tips. Around them the battle raged on. Ron and Draco were beginning to breathe heavily with the effort of fending off thirteen Death Eaters. Harry quickly wiped the blood off his cheeks and away from under his sunglasses. He looked intensely at Gabrielle who looked extremely frightened.

"Don't say anything." Harry said firmly as he checked for anymore blood. Gabrielle stared at him with wide eyes.

"But…" Gabrielle began.

"Nothing." Harry snapped. His voice came out much harsher then he'd intended but something in his mind wouldn't let him care.

Gabrielle continued to stare at him.

"Iz zair anyzing I can do?" she asked.

"Keep quiet." Harry said as he stood.

Just as Harry got to his feet Draco took a blasting spell to the chest. The blonde flew backwards straight into Harry. The pair landed several feet away from Ron who was now back to back with Gabrielle who was firing spells in French as fast as her terrified mind would allow her. Draco and Harry had plowed through a group of three Death Eaters. Harry heard Draco grunting and hissing in pain as he struggled with Dolohov who was trying to steal his wand. Harry punched the closet Death Eater full force in the nose just to receive an elbow in the stomach from a Death Eater Harry finally realized to be Theodore Nott's father. The Death Eater Harry had punched rolled over and ripped Draco off of Dolohov and jerked the blonde's hands behind his back. Draco cried out in pain. Harry dropped his wand and raised his right hand over his head.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" he shouted pouring strength into the spell. In a flash Harry reached out for Draco's cloak to keep the blonde from getting blown away like the rest. The Death Eaters flew several feet into the air and landed in heaps.

Draco wrapped his arms around his chest and Harry fought off a wave of pain and dizziness. An anguished cry from Ron made Harry whip around so fast he felt his neck crack slightly.

Ron was on his knees clutching a bleeding stomach. Gabrielle was fighting her best but she was no match for the remaining seven Death Eaters. Alecto Carrows shouted a spell. Ropes wrapped themselves tightly around the young witch and every time Gabrielle moved the ropes would tighten painfully.

Harry jumped to his feet. His heart pounded in his ears, his body screamed for him to stop but the voice in his head was louder than ever.

"_ATTACK THEM! THINK OF WHAT YOU'VE GONE THROUGH! IT'S THEIR FAULT. MAKE THEM SUFFER!" _The voice demanded.

Harry no longer had the strength to fight it. He lifted his hands and as soon as the first spell was fired from the Death Eaters he exploded.

"Stupefy!" George shouted at the first Death Eater to stand. The spell hit and the man went down.

"Sectumsempra!" another Death Eater shouted.

"Protego!" Fred cried just in time.

Hermione turned to face her tour friends.

"Hold up your wands like you're going to attack." She instructed them.

Two boys from Durmstrang, a girl from Austrailia, and Julie all did as they were told immediately. The rest were a little slower in acting but eventually everyone's wands were raised, even Sally-Anne's.

Fred and George continued to battle the three remaining Death Eaters

"Alright on my word say the first spell that comes to mind." Hermione said.

The group nodded numbly. Hermione turned away from them and lifted her own wand.

"On three!" she said.

"One…" she cried.

The Death Eaters began firing more rapidly.

"How'd they get wands?" one shouted.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!" George bellowed.

"Two…" Hermione counted.

"Stupefy!" Fred and George said together, taking down two more Death Eaters.

Finally it was only one man left standing. This thought seemed to hit him just as Hermione shouted three. He dove through a door to his right as the tour group all shouted a spell. As they did their fake wands popped and turned into everything from rubber animals to fake flowers. Hermione's spell shattered the far wall. At the same moment the ground began to shake violently.

All eleven teens were brought to their knees.

"What's happening?" Julie shouted.

"I don't know!" George answered right before a huge chunk of ceiling crashed to the ground a few feet behind him.

"Let's get out of here!" Fred called over the sound of more pieces of ceiling separating themselves from the building.

Harry felt as if his entire body was being torn to shreds as light poured out both his hands. Draco and Ron pressed themselves close to the ground to avoid the blast. Gabrielle squeezed her eyes shut tight, trying not to move. Harry's spell caught every Death Eater still standing, including Lucius and Bellatrix who hadn't been able to get a shield up as fast as Voldemort had.

Harry's voice clawed against his throat as a scream ripped itself free. The world was turning black at an alarming rate but he couldn't let himself fall yet. He focused on ending the spell and unsteadily faced Voldemort.

Voldemort aimed his wand at the same time Harry raised his hands.

Neither shouted a spell and still light shot out of their weapons meeting in mid air just like in the graveyard three years before. When the spells collided Harry felt as if he was going to drop dead right there. His head felt like it was split in two as voices echoed through his exhausted brain.

"_FIGHT HARDER! KILL HIM! END THIS!" _

_"STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF!"_

"Harry!" Ron shouted. He wasn't sure if his friend could even hear him. Draco stared transfixed at the sight. Harry was obviously about to fall. Even Voldemort seemed to be weakening. The light from the joined spells was a blinding white. Power radiated from the dueling pair making the ground rumble and shake.

Draco turned and felt his stomach drop. Fred, George, and Hermione were struggling to get towards the battle with the entire tour group behind them. The intense vibrations in the ground kept throwing the teens to the ground until they decided it was much easier just to crawl forward. The Death Eaters that had been struck down by Harry's curse still hadn't risen or even moved.

Hermione and the rest were about twenty yards away when Harry and Voldemort's spells exploded. Sparks went everywhere. Everyone's hair stood on end as power surged through the air. Draco and the rest covered their heads against the flying chunks of debris. After a solid minute of violent ground shaking, earth flying, and blind panic everything went completely still. Hermione, Ron, and Draco slowly lifted their heads. Hermione urged the tour group to do the same.

Slowly the fifteen teenagers stood and took in the sight around them. Death Eater bodies were strewn around the lawn. A crater about five feet deep and seven feet across showed where the explosion had begun and the large cracks in the earth that spread out from it represented the continual bursts of power.

Light headed from his blood loss Ron fell back to his knees. Fred and George rushed to his sides. Draco and Hermione however saw none of this. Their eyes were focused on a dark form lying fifty feet away from the crater.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted. She sprinted towards her fallen friend with a pale and silent Draco close on her heels. The rest of their group trailed behind them.

Harry lie on his back with his right arm draped over his stomach. His glasses had been blasted off his face, leaving the blood trail from his eyes down past his chin clearly visible. Gabrielle's voice shook as she explained when that had started.

"'e told me not to say anyzing!" She sobbed. Hannah Abbot, another girl on the tour trip, pulled Gabrielle into a hug.

"I-is he breathing?" a tall brown haired boy from the tour group asked.

Hermione and Draco glanced at each other. Shaking slightly Hermione lowered her head to her friend's chest. She held her breath for what seemed like ages before she finally sat up.

"He's alive but barely." She said.

Fred told Ron to lean on George before pulling his pack off his back again.

"We've got to get help." he said. His hands trembled uncontrollably as he fumbled with the opening of his pack. Finally he was able to pull out the rubber chickens they'd chosen to be the portkey to get them back home. Fred handed one to Hermione.

"Half of you go with 'Mione, other half with us."

The tour group broke up in silence. Draco held Harry's hand to the chicken as Hermione and Fred tapped the chickens with the wand.

"Hogwarts." They said together.


	12. waiting

Thunder rumbled in the rapidly darkening sky as fifteen teenagers landed in two heaps just outside the gates of Hogwarts. They spent several seconds separating themselves and struggling to stand. Finally only Draco, Ron, and Harry remained on the ground.

"My babies!"

The groups turned and saw Mrs. Weasley running towards them with her arms spread wide and tears streaming down her beet red face. Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore, and Ginny were close on her heels. Mrs. Weasley pulled Fred and George into bone crushing hugs.

"You're alright!" She sobbed. "You're okay!"

"Mum!" the twins shouted in unison.

Their panicked tone surprised Molly enough to make her let go and take a step back. Fred gestured to Ron whose shirt was completely covered in blood. Draco was on his knees with both arms wrapped around his chest taking quick shallow breaths. Harry was still unconscious.

"What happened?" Mrs. Weasley demanded as Ginny fell to her knees beside her fallen boyfriend. She ran her hand through his hair. Her eyes shone with tears but she seemed too shocked to let them fall.

"Everything will be explained in time Molly but we must get these three to the hospital wing." Dumbledore said. With a flourishing motion of his wand three stretchers appeared. Fred helped Ron onto one, George helped Draco into the middle stretcher, and Mr. Weasley lifted Harry onto the last one.

Dumbledore began to lead the way up to the castle but pained groans from Draco and Ron's ghostlike skin made him stop.

"Winky, Dobby, Tixy." Dumbledore said suddenly.

With three barely audible pops the house elves appeared in front of the headmaster. All three creatures bowed deeply. Dobby looked up at the man excitedly.

"What is Professor Dumbledore, sir, needing?" he asked.

"I would like each of you to take these three to the hospital wing. Tell Madame Pomfrey that I will be there shortly." Dumbledore said. The house elves bowed again before Winky grabbed the side of Ron's stretcher while Tixy held onto Draco's and Dobby clung to Harry's. In a series of pops the house elves disappeared along with the boys. When they were gone Dumbledore continued to lead the way to the castle.

"'ow will you're nurse 'elp zem all?" A boy from Beaubaxtons asked.

"I brought several healers from St. Mungo's to assist Madame Pomfrey for a short time." Dumbledore explained.

"Why not just take them there instead of bringing healers here?" Julie asked. She still had an arm slung over a trembling Sally-Anne's shoulders.

Dumbledore didn't answer this immediately and Fred and George had an idea why.

"It wouldn't be safe for them there would it?" George asked.

Dumbledore hesitated for another moment before speaking.

"No it wouldn't have been. The healers I brought in have had their memories modified so that their biases will not play any part in treating Harry, Ron, and Draco."

As confused as the tour group kids were they opted not to voice their questions. The rest of the journey to the hospital wing was made in silence.

Dumbledore turned the last corner to the hospital wing and came face to face with one of the healers he'd brought from St. Mungo's.

"You can't go in right now." The Healer said firmly.

"Why not?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"You would get in the way. All the injuries are serious and every moment is critical. A single mistake could cost any of the boys their lives. Unless you want to increase these chances you will stay out here until further notice." The Healer said.

His hardened gaze fell on each of the teens individually but when he spotted Sally-Anne his eyes softened slightly.

"You there what is your name?" he asked in a much kinder tone then he'd just used with Mrs. Weasley. Sally-Anne was shaking violently and her eyes were slightly glazed over. Julie swallowed a lump in her throat and spoke for her friend.

"Sally-Anne Perks." She said.

The Healer nodded.

"Bring her inside. She's gone into shock." He said. He studied the rest of the tour group as well. "I will bring you all a calming potion after I treat her."

Julie gently led her friend out from the middle of the group and towards the tall Healer. With a final look over her shoulder at Hermione Julie led Sally-Anne into the hospital wing behind the Healer.

For a while the rest of the group just stood there staring at the closed hospital wing doors.

"Make them let us in Albus. I want to see my baby!" Mrs. Weasley said, tears shining in her eyes and on her cheeks. Dumbledore turned to her.

"I am sorry Molly but in this situation Madame Pomfrey has complete power. If she does not want us in, we cannot go in." he said regrettably.

Unsure what to do with themselves each person took to doing their own thing. Ginny sat on the floor in front of the window staring out at the rain that was now pouring from the sky. Fred and George leaned against a wall not talking to or looking at anyone. Hermione tried to speak to each of the tour group kids but they were all lost in their own thoughts. Mr. Weasley and Dumbledore were speaking in hushed tones a little ways from the rest. Mrs. Weasley was pacing like a caged animal, shooting dark glares at the hospital wing doors.

Ten minutes or so after he'd led Sally-Anne and Julie into the hospital wing the healer returned with them. Both girls appeared to be much more at peace with the whole situation. Sally-Anne wasn't shaking or crying. The healer set a tray of eleven cups of calming potion on the ground. He handed each teenager a cup and then held the last one out to Mrs. Weasley. She glared at the cup and then back up to the man.

"When you are finally allowed to visit your son, do you think he would want to see you like this?" he asked gently.

After another moment of hesitation Mrs. Weasley took the cup and drank the potion. She handed the empty cup back to the healer and began to pace again.

Dumbledore studied each of the teens.

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, could I have a word?" he asked, gesturing to Fred and George.

The twins walked over to where Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley stood.

"I am only asking you this now because you are under the effects of a powerful calming drought therefore you will not feel any emotional pain while you are explaining everything that happened." Dumbledore said.

Fred and George nodded.

"Well you know we did manage to get the wands from the ministry right before we got spotted. From there we went to Grimmauld Place and found out about the tour group getting taken hostage." Fred explained smoothly. "George and I went to our shop to get a few supplies and we got back right before Draco, Ron, and Harry left with the Portkey. 'Mione tracked them so that we could follow."

Fred and George took turns explaining everything that had happened from the moment they arrived at the Dark Lord's castle. Dumbledore didn't stop them until they got to the part about hearing an explosion.

"What do you mean an explosion?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"An explosion, Dad. The whole bloody castle shook. George almost got smashed by something that fell from the ceiling." Fred explained.

"Where did it come from?" Dumbledore asked. The twins shrugged simultaneously.

"I'd bet it was Harry and You-Know-Who. We went outside to see what was going on and we could see this intense light coming from where we'd seen the Death Eaters standing before." George said.

"We had to crawl over there to see what was going on because the ground was shaking so bad." Fred recalled.

"By the time we got to Ron and the others there was this huge crater in the ground with these really long cracks in the ground going in every direction." George explained.

"Ron and Draco were hurt really bad but I don't know if it came from the explosion or something before that. Gabrielle seemed to be physically alright but Harry was about twenty feet away and unconscious." Fred said.

The boys looked directly at Dumbledore for the first time since they'd started talking.

"Do you know what happened sir?" Fred asked. The headmaster shook his head.

"No but I am hoping Ms. Delacour can help us." He said.

Fred and George nodded and walked away. George knelt beside Gabrielle and told her to go over to talk to Dumbledore. She looked slightly nervous but the calming potion kept her mellow.

"You wanted to speak wiz me?" she said.

Dumbledore nodded.

"I understand you've had a very rough day Ms. Delacour but I would appreciate it greatly if you could tell me everything that happened today."

Gabrielle nodded and took a deep breath.

"It was 'orrible when I was taken from ze rest of ze group. I did not zink I would see zem again. Zat 'orrible woman told me zat 'arry was not coming. She said zat I was going to die." Despite the calming potion a tear slid out of Gabrielle's eye. She wiped it away and continued with her story.

"She took me to ze yard and we waited for ages. She kept counting down minutes. Finally, 'arry and ze others arrived. Zey saved my life. Zen ze battle began. Zey protected me for as long as zey could. 'arry got me a wand and although it was not mine I knew I 'ad no choice. Ze boys fought wonderfully. Never before have I seen anyzing like it. But zen somezing 'appened to 'arry. 'e collapsed and zer was blood falling from under 'is glasses. 'e told me not to say anyzing and 'e continued to battle. After zat it was like 'arry was a different person. 'e dropped 'is wand and used wandless magic attacking with such anger and power. It was so scary. It was like somezing in 'is mind changed. When 'e faced You-Know-Who 'e showed no fear. 'e looked ready to collapse but 'is power seemed unaffected. Zeir spells connected in ze air and zen there was zis 'orrible explosion. 'arry fell and did not get back up. Zen the rest of ze tour group arrived with Hermione and two other boys. Zen we came here." Gabrielle took another deep breath and shook her head before looking directly into Dumbledore's eyes.

"Will zey be okay?" she asked.

"I do not know. Thank you for sharing this with us Ms. Delacour." Dumbledore said.

Gabrielle nodded and went back to join the rest of the teens.

"Harry was bleeding from his eyes and he told Gabrielle not to say or do anything about it." Mr. Weasley said breathlessly.

"He must have used a large amount of power right before it happened for it to have affected him in such a way." Dumbledore said.

Suddenly the Hospital wing doors opened and a young woman poked her head out.

"Professor Dumbledore, Healer Sanders would like a word." She said.

"Can we see them?" Mrs. Weasley asked. The nurse shook her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry but they're still in critical condition. Someone will come to get you as soon as possible."

Dumbledore followed the nurse into the hospital wing. Harry was at the far end of the hospital wing with two of the five Healers Dumbledore had brought from St. Mungos plus Madame Pomfrey surrounding him. Draco and Ron were closer to the doors but appeared to be unconscious. Each of them had one healer and two nurses tending to them.

"These two passed out moments after arrival. Their conditions are unstable due to amount of internal damage. Draco's right lung collapsed under several shattered ribs. Ron's stomach was cut open and several vital organs took a hit or two."

Dumbledore could hardly take his eyes off the faces of his students but he knew they were not the reason he'd been called into the hospital wing.

"What about Harry?" he asked.

"We've never seen anything like this before sir. He has several broken bones including his left arm and leg and his right ankle. Harry also broke a rib but it didn't cut into his lung like Draco's did. The thing that has the healers so lost is his eyes and his heart pattern. We have a monitoring charm on him right now so we can read the rhythm. One second its steady the next it's going impossibly fast and then it all but stops." The nurse took a deep breath. "Whenever his heart starts to race blood seeps out of his eyes and we haven't got the faintest idea why. We've run every test we can think of but there's nothing showing up that could explain why he's bleeding from his eyes." The nurse paused for a second before continuing. "Plus we noticed the palms of his hands are extremely burned. It looks almost as if he stuck them into a fire and let them sit there for a while." She said.

"Harry is capable of wandless magic and from what I've been told he used an exceptional amount of it today." Dumbledore explained. The nurse's eyes went wide.

"Wandless magic?" she said. "He's only seventeen." She shook her head.

"It is possible that that had something to do with the burns."

For a moment the pair stood in silence but suddenly the nurse seemed to remember something.

"Healer Sanders." She called.

A dark haired healer standing at Harry's bedside looked up from a chart he was holding. Upon seeing Dumbledore he set the chart down and strode over, extending his hand to the headmaster.

"Hello sir." He said.

"Hello." Dumbledore responded as the men shook hands.

"We brought you in here hoping that you might be able to help us." Healer Sanders said.

"I will do what I can."

"Okay we have a theory that somewhere in Harry's mind he might know what's wrong with him. We believe that if we can get into his mind with a fairly complicated spell and find the memory or thought that could tell us what's wrong we can help him. We use this method with patients who are unable to communicate for one reason or another."

"I don't believe I understand where I come into the picture." Dumbledore said.

"Well we find that this works best when it's preformed by someone close to the patient otherwise they subconsciously try to block us out which could cause more harm than good. I will tell you the spell and you will cast yourself into Harry's mind and use your own thoughts to get him to share his, almost as if you're having a conversation. I myself don't know exactly what happens during the actual spell but it's had positive results so we hope this case will prove as successful."

Dumbledore nodded.

"When do we begin?" he asked.

"Right now if you'd like." Healer Sanders said.

Dumbledore nodded and followed the nurse and Healer Sanders towards Harry's bed. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and tried not to take in Harry's death like appearance.

The other healers moved away from Harry's bedside until it was only Healer Sanders, Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey.

"How are you doing Poppy?" Dumbledore asked gently. The medi-witch nodded and fanned herself wordlessly.

Healer Sanders handed Dumbledore a piece of paper with a spell written on it.

"Say this three times and imagine yourself just talking with Harry. On the third time you should join him wherever he is in his mind. After that it's up to you." He explained.

Dumbledore read over the spell a few times until he had it memorized.

He raised his wand and aimed it at Harry's head.

"dico mihi quis est nefas sicego vires polleo iuvo vos reverto ut quam vos errant" he chanted once. Light shot out of his wand into Harry's forehead. As Dumbledore chanted it a second time the light intensified and Dumbledore noticed the room around him seemed to be fading. Dumbledore took a breath before beginning the third time through the incantation.

"dico mihi quis est nefas sicego vires polleo iuvo vos reverto ut quam vos errant."

The hospital wing completely disappeared and Dumbledore found himself surrounded by complete darkness.

"Harry?" he called.

A light turned on somewhere and Dumbledore was able to see Harry sitting with his legs pulled up to his chest, his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands.

"Harry?" Dumbledore said again.

Harry looked up and for a moment sat in surprised silence.

"Professor?" he said questioningly in his completely normal voice. He jumped up and walked over to the headmaster.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Harry we want to help you."

"You can't." Harry answered quickly. His vivid green eyes kept darting around nervously.

"Tell me what's wrong." Dumbledore said.

No answer.

"Harry."

"You have to leave. You have to get out of here right now." Harry pushed.

"Please…."

"He said leave old man." A snake like voice said sharply. Dumbledore froze in shock.

Behind Harry who was still staring intensely at Dumbledore, trying to urge the man to leave, another Harry appeared. This one was dressed entirely in black and wore the sleek black sunglasses used to cover his bloody eyes. Normal Harry glared at the dark imposter but kept quiet. Dumbledore stared at the pair in stunned silence.

"You're probably wondering what exactly you are witnessing here you old fool." Dark Harry said. Amusement was obvious in his low voice.

"Well let me tell you as simply as possible. I am everything you've tried to keep Harry from becoming; confident, ambitious, and most importantly powerful. I am exactly what you feared most you'd one day see in him as you saw in Tom Riddle. I am the untapped part of Harry you knew was there all along. Every since that night you set him on that porch step you've been planning how to keep me at bay. You've hoped that if you instilled enough goodness into him neither of you would ever have to face me.

"But your plan failed Dumbledore and you should have realized that as soon as you found Harry at the Ministry. With the emotional stress of losing his worthless godfather and then having to fight the Dark Lord himself, Harry was far too weak. The walls you'd helped him build to block me out crumbled and I slowly began to free myself. Then, two years later, Harry's mind took another heavy blow when he lost his memory. It was like none of your teachings had taken place. None of your carefully sculpted walls and precisely planted morals existed. Harry had no idea that he was supposed to be blocking me out so he welcomed me with an open mind."

Suddenly Dark Harry's almost joyful expression slipped away and his expression turned angry.

"But then Harry's memories returned and your walls were reinstated. They were nowhere near as strong as before but they were enough. I was once again locked away and Harry was able to live without really knowing I existed. He had a bit more power than before but of course he wouldn't use it for anything more than mere housework." The words were spoken as if they were something foul tasting that needed to be spit out.

Dumbledore was silent as the explanation continued.

"Luckily for me Harry was thrown in that prison house and the very walls that were supposed to keep Dark wizards in was helping to bring one out. Every time Harry hit the walls I was freed a little more because it weakened him. When he finally blew up the entire thing, he used so much magic in such a weakened state that I was able to burst free. His mind was almost entirely mine to control. If not for this nuisance I would have had complete control."

By now the Normal Harry was glaring daggers at Dark Harry who was ignoring him almost completely.

"I had enough of a hold to hinder his appearance. My essence changed his voice and his eyes but I had very little control over actions. When he used big spells I was able to shove this little shit out of the way and take over but somehow I always lost control again."

Dumbledore stood there as Dark Harry began to pace and Normal Harry shook with rage. Suddenly something occurred to Dumbledore that he hadn't noticed when he first arrived.

"You don't have a scar." He said to the Harry who'd been silent through the entire ordeal. The teen nodded and his counterpart laughed.

"About time. I knew were old but I wasn't aware you were blind. Of course he doesn't have a scar. The scar gives Harry power. The scar is what you've tried to make Harry ignore over these past seven years. I represent all of this." Dark Harry said proudly.

"I represent all that's good in Harry. My magic isn't tainted by his scar. I have just as much power as this bloody arse but I choose not to make Harry use it."

"You don't use it because you're too weak. You've always been pathetic!" Dark Harry hissed angrily.

"I manage to save the world without it! What have you done? Blow up a bloody house?" Light Harry retorted.

"I almost destroyed the Dark Lord! I could have replaced him!"

"But you didn't!"

"Because you stopped me!"

"You were killing Harry! If I'd let you do that it wouldn't matter which one of us was stronger!"

"You're too weak minded to let Harry use his full power!"

"You're too wretched to get anything you want without blasting your way to it!"

Mere inches separated the pair. They glared into each other's eyes.

"What happens to Harry?" Dumbledore said.

"He'll die if one of us doesn't take control." Dark Harry said bluntly, never taking his eyes off his counterpart.

"We've been fighting since Harry lost consciousness but whatever potions they keep injecting him with makes us stop before we can finish." Light Harry explained.

"How long can Harry live without one of you in control?" Dumbledore asked.

"One hour." Came the simultaneous answer.

"It's been about that long now." Dumbledore said softly.

"Then we must finish this." Dark Harry hissed. Light Harry nodded.

"You'd better get out of here Professor." He said.

"I am not going anywhere." Dumbledore said defiantly.

Light and Dark Harry turned to him at the same moment and flicked their hands at him. Before he knew what was happening Dumbledore found himself standing back in the hospital wing with his wand aimed at Harry's head.

"What the hell happened?" Healer Sanders asked.

"Harry's heart rates have been going crazy!" one of the nurses exclaimed.

Dumbledore nodded and eased himself into a nearby chair, never taking his eyes off the seemingly peaceful face of the teen in front of him.

"Did you find out what was wrong, Albus?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"There is nothing we can do for him as of now. It is fully up to them." He said.

The healers and nurses glanced at each other, unsure what to make of the comment but before any of them could ask any questions the incessant beeping that had been echoing through the Hospital wing the entire time began to speed up until the beeps almost merged into a single sound.

The healers burst into motion, shouting orders at each other and calling for this and that.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore shouted over them all. More out of surprise then obedience, everyone froze.

"Harry is fine. I cannot explain to you how I know this but you cannot treat Harry with anything right now. This must be waited out." He explained.

"He's going into cardiac arrest!" Healer Sanders shouted.

"Trust me. Do not treat him." Dumbledore said.

The healers looked hesitant but Madame Pomfrey took a deep breath.

"Alright Albus." She said. The medi-witch immediately bustled off to check on her other two patients.

The rest simply stared at Harry and listened as his heartbeat raced wildly. Suddenly Harry's body began to convulse. The healers looked at Dumbledore.

"Do nothing." He said.

"Sir…"

"Nothing!" Dumbledore said sharply.

Harry's body began to thrash more violently, his head slamming against his pillows.

"Strap him down." Healer Sanders ordered.

When Dumbledore didn't object the Healers set to work. Within seconds thick black ropes bound Harry to the hospital bed. Not even a heart beat after he was bound a blood curdling scream erupted from Harry's throat. He thrashed harder than ever and the voice went from an anguished hiss to a normal pained cry and then back again.

Then just as quickly as it all began Harry froze. His head lolled to one side and his body went still. Harry's heart rate went from racing at a break neck speed to a tedious beep……………………………..beep………………………………….beep.

Just as the healers were about to dive into another round of potions Harry's head jerked and he tried to sit up but was held in place by the bonds. Dumbledore let the teen take a few deep breaths.

"Harry?"

Hang with me guys. There's still a bit more story!! Review please they just make my day that much more awesome

Lil Prongs Chicky


	13. plans

Molly walked over to her husband who was leaning against a wall, staring intensely at the Hospital wing door.

"Arthur?" she said softly. The calming potion had long since taken effect on the woman but the worry and fear was still obvious on her face.

"Molly dear are you alright?" Arthur asked pulling his pale wife into a hug. He knew this was a ridiculous question but he didn't know what else to say. Molly shook her head.

"They've been in there for over an hour. Why can't we see them?" she said emotionally.

"I'm sure we'll be let in soon." Arthur soothed. Neither adult was sure how true these words were but it was all they had.

A short distance away the tour group sat in a circle with Ginny, Fred, and George.

"When will we be able to go in?"

Hermione shrugged.

"I don't know Julie."

"When can we speak wiz our parents?"

"I don't know Gabrielle." Hermione answered.

"What do you know?" snapped a boy named Duncan from Durmstrang.

"I know just as much as you do which is nothing. We're all scared; we're all on edge even with the calming potion. Unfortunately the only thing we can do is sit…and wait."

"We could start writing letters to parents now." Ginny suggested. "The school owls are still here even during the summer."

"But if we tell them everyone's at Hogwarts they'll storm the school. The media would defiantly become involved and they'd show up here and I just don't think that's something Ron and the rest need right now." Fred explained.

The other teens silently agreed.

"Do zey even know what 'as been 'appening?" Andre, a boy from Beaubaxtons asked.

Everyone shifted.

"I dunno. Everything happened so fast there's no way anyone could have done a story on it." George said.

"What about all those Death Eaters? Someone was bound to have seen them and reported it." Hermione realized.

"Dad would probably know." Ginny said as she stood. She felt eyes follow her to where her parents stood holding each other in miserable silence.

"Dad, do you know if anything's been in the papers about what happened to the tour group?" Ginny asked. Arthur looked thoughtful for a moment.

"That's a good question. I don't know how there could have been since they were only really missing for a short while."

"What about a sighting of a large group of Death Eaters? George and Hermione said that there were a lot of them when the group was kidnapped. Hermione thinks someone may have reported it." Ginny pressed.

"She might be right." Mr. Weasley said thoughtfully. "I could go…"

At that moment an ear splitting scream erupted from the hospital wing. At first everyone stared in stunned silence at the hospital wing doors.

"That sounded like Harry!" Ginny cried. She ran to the double oak doors and began pounding on them with her fists. Hermione was at her side in a flash, followed by Fred and then George. The trio felt the rest of the group behind them as they pounded away at the doors.

"Can they even hear us?" Ginny demanded.

"LET US IN!" Fred shouted.

Although they seemed as if they wanted to join their children, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley cut through the crowd and peeled Fred, George, Hermione, and Ginny away from the door.

"That was Harry! We HAVE to get in there! That was Harry!" Ginny sobbed as her mother held her tightly.

"I'm sorry Ginny we can't go in. We have to wait a bit longer." Mrs. Weasley said softly. She smoothed down Ginny's hair as the girl cried into her shoulder.

Mr. Weasley had an arm draped over each of his sons. Both of whom were extremely pale.

"What's going on in there, Dad?" George asked in a broken voice.

"I don't know son."

Harry hadn't responded to anyone calling his name. He kept his eyes closed but the slight twitch of his eyelids and shifting of his body under the thick straps proved he was still awake. Healers had injected him with several different potions and left the teen's bedside. Now it was only Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore watching him.

"The other two should wake anytime. They'll be extremely sore for a few days but I'm afraid there's very little we can do about that." Madame Pomfrey explained without taking her eyes off the raven haired boy in front of her.

Dumbledore nodded numbly. He wanted more than anything for Harry to wake up. There was no way to know which part of Harry had won the battle in his mind and the wait to find out was unbearable.

Madame Pomfrey waved her wand over Harry's body for the fifth time in as many minutes.

"I don't understand it Albus. All his vitals are acceptable enough. He won't be playing Quidditch anytime soon but he should at least be awake." She said with a heavy sigh.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" Dumbledore asked.

The medi-witch shook her head.

"We've done everything." She admitted.

Dumbledore took a deep breath.

"The others will want to know what is happening. I'm sure they heard Harry's scream."

"Groups of three will be plenty." Madame Pomfrey said in a no nonsense tone.

Dumbledore nodded and headed for the hospital wing doors. In a flash every face was looking up at him.

"All three boys are stable." He said.

"Are they awake? Can we see them?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Dumbledore nodded.

"No they are not yet awake but you may still visit them in groups of three."

Molly practically flew past the headmaster. Dumbledore looked around at the rest of the group.

"Two more." He said.

Hermione nudged Ginny.

"You go." She said.

"No you."

"Why don't you both go? I'll wait." Mr. Weasley said softly. The girls looked up at him with tear filled eyes. They nodded and clinging each other's hands tightly they made their way into the hospital wing.

"Ten minutes and another group may come through." He said.

Arthur nodded and he squeezed his son's shoulders.

Mrs. Weasley was at Ron's bedside sobbing her heart out and stroking his hair. Ginny looked up at Hermione who was extremely pale and had tears streaming down her cheeks. The girls squeezed hands once more before splitting up. Hermione headed slowly towards Ron. Ginny took two steps towards her own boyfriend but froze. After a moment she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Dumbledore looking down at her with a small smile.

"I-I don't know why but I'm…" Ginny didn't want to say what she was but it seemed the headmaster understood.

"I understand you're reluctance but what Harry needs now more than ever is to know that he has people who care about him. He needs to know that he didn't scare everyone away."

Ginny nodded, took a deep breath and walked the rest of the way to Harry's bedside. For a moment she just stood there staring at his pale face and watching his chest rise and fall. Before she realized what she was doing Ginny threw herself forward, grabbing Harry's hand and holding it to her tear drenched cheek.

"Harry, Harry if you can hear me you have to wake up. Everyone's so scared for you. My mum and dad, Fred and George, Hermione, everyone is terrified. Ron and Draco would be scared too but they're not awake yet either." She said softly. Ginny's voice cracked and she fell silent. She stroked Harry's hand and continued to stare intently at his face, praying to anyone who was listening that she would see those vivid green eyes.

"I need to know you're okay Harry. I need you to be okay."

Ginny buried her face into her arms without releasing Harry's hand.

Hermione had gone over to Draco's bed and said a few words to him before returning to Ron's side.

What seemed like seconds later, Dumbledore told them that it was time for someone else to have a turn. It took several minutes to get Mrs. Weasley away from her son and then she was horribly upset that she hadn't spent any time with Harry. Eventually Healer Sanders was able to inject Mrs. Weasley with a calming potion and she was finally taken out of the hospital wing.

Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley went in next.

After everyone who wanted to go in went Madame Pomfrey told Dumbledore that he could send all the healers and nurses back to St. Mungo's.

"Are you sure Poppy?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course I'm sure Albus. I've handled more than this before. Now that the three of them are stable I can handle it from here."

Dumbledore nodded and after several memory modifications he sent all the Healers and their nurses on their way.

Finally the headmaster bid Madame Pomfrey good night and left the hospital wing. Dumbledore walked into the corridor to find teenaged bodies sprawled out all over the floor. Mr. Weasley's voice came from the shadows.

"They were exhausted." He whispered. Mrs. Weasley sat beside him but remained silent.

Dumbledore nodded.

"I will have the house elves take them to the Great Hall where Dobby has set up several makeshift beds. You and Molly are more than welcome to use my quarters."

"Thank you very much but we'd like to stay with the children." Molly answered. Dumbledore bowed his head in acknowledgment before rattling off the names of several house elves. When at last he had five of the creatures standing before him he instructed them to take the sleeping teens to the Great Hall. The house elves eagerly agreed and set to the task. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley opted to walk. Dumbledore retired to his own office.

In the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey ran a final check over all three boys before making her way to her office.

This pattern went on for three full days. Towards the end of the second day Dumbledore finally opted to allow the tour group kids to contact their parents and even arranged several illegal portkeys to take them home. Unfortunately this process was not kept quiet. Andre's parents had decided that something must be wrong when he didn't check in with them with the usual nightly floo call. They immediately raised the alarm. When Andre finally got a hold of them, explained everything that had happened, and told them that he was safe at Hogwarts they were furious that they'd not been contacted immediately. They went to the papers saying that Dumbledore had not handled the events well.

Within hours reporters were pressed up against the gates and every time one of the students tried to leave they were hammered with questions.

"Is it true you were trapped at the lair of the Dark Lord?"

"Was anyone injured?"

"Did Harry Potter have something to do with this?"

"Was there indeed a ransom note sent to Potter and his friends?"

The questions came fast and hard and even when the tour kids tried to explain what truly happened the reporters didn't listen. They decided that Harry, Ron, and Draco had chosen to wait until the last second to see if anyone would indeed be killed. According to the reporters Harry had been part of the planning of the kidnappings because he was still You-Know-Who's most faithful follower. In their eyes this was all the evidence Fudge should need to send the trio to Azkaban.

In no time special edition papers were circulating with the story but hardly a word of it came from anyone who was truly there. Finally reporters were demanding an interview with Harry, Ron, and Draco. Rita Skeeter led a media attack on the trio saying that they were hiding out in Hogwarts because it was the one place the Ministry couldn't get into. Everyone refused to believe that the boys were still unconscious due to their injuries.

It was almost ten o'clock at night on the third day since Harry and the others had arrived. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore, and Madame Pomfrey sat around the hospital wing talking about the boys' conditions.

"I don't understand why they haven't woken Albus. There is no medical reason to explain it." Madame Pomfrey exclaimed.

Dumbledore sat in his usual chair beside Harry. The boys had been moved to three separate beds that were almost side to side with Harry at one end, Ron in the middle, and Draco at the far side.

"I imagine they all used quite a bit of strength these past days. Perhaps they are simply resting." Dumbledore tried.

Madame Pomfrey shook her head skeptically but decided not to push it. Molly and Arthur sat on either side of Ron's bed. They'd instructed their children to go home and get some real rest. Hermione had settled for writing to her parents explaining that she would safe. She decided to stay at the Burrow so that she would be easy to get a hold of incase anything changed with the boys.

Madame Pomfrey wandered over to the window and looked out.

"They're still out there." She said referring to the ever present reporters.

"And there they will remain until they get what they are looking for." Dumbledore answered grimly.

"Can you believe the things they've been saying about those boys in those horrible papers?" Molly practically growled. "They're made out to be fugitives from the law. It's as if the world actually believes Harry is the next You-Know-Who with Ron and Draco at his sides."

No one bothered to say that that this was exactly what the world believed at this point in time. Arthur sighed and folded the paper he had in his hands and tossed it onto Ron's bedside table. Despite his wife's disapproval Arthur continued to read the Prophet just to see if there was any sign of an end to the verbal abuse the boys were under.

He stood and stretched.

"Molly we'd best be off. Fred, George, and Ginny will be wanting to know how they're doing and you really need sleep." He said.

Molly looked ready to argue but sighed heavily instead. She leaned forward and kissed her son on his forehead before saying good bye to Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey and leaving behind her husband.

Madame Pomfrey ran her usual final check list while Dumbledore studied her. Finally she finished and Dumbledore spoke.

"Get some sleep Poppy you look exhausted." He said.

Madame Pomfrey smiled up at him with baggy eyes.

"I'll sleep when these three are up on their feet." She said wearily.

Dumbledore stood and patted the medi witch on the arm comfortingly before leaving the hospital wing. With a heavy sigh Madame Pomfrey disappeared into her own office.

The castle fell into almost silence except for the occasional disturbance from Peeves.

This silence is what greeted Ron when he woke up around two o'clock in the morning. For a moment he was ready to panic when he couldn't recognize his surroundings but slowly he recalled arriving at Hogwarts. He rubbed his still sore stomach and carefully stretched his stiff muscles. Ron sat up slowly against his pillows and looked around. He saw the still form of Harry on his right and Draco to his left.

"Draco." Ron said softly. His voice came out cracked and raspy. He found a glass of water on his bedside table beside a copy of the Daily Prophet. Ron sipped on the water and picked up the paper. He was more than a little surprised to see dark pictures of him, Harry, and Draco on the front page. Ron pulled his bedside table open searching for his wand. He found it lying on top of a pair of clean clothes.

"Lumos."

The soft light illuminated the paper.

_One Step Lower by Rita Skeeter_

_Harry Potter's spotted record has been completely defaced by his recent actions including attacking unsuspecting wizards and witches in a pub, targeting the editor of a newspaper, battling aurors as they tried to protect the wizarding world. Just when we believed that perhaps the once respected teen wizard had finished his walk on the dark side, the wizarding world receives another low blow. Harry Potter hasn't been trying to clean up his act at all. Instead he's dragged two more into the tangle with him. Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy have become the black sheep of their families because of their association with Potter. The trio as stirred an unexpected fear in hearts of good people everywhere. Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge managed to apprehend the terrifying threesome but refused to send them to Azkaban. Instead Fudge, always a man who tries to seek out the good in others, sent the boys to a prison house. _

_"Potter 's wandless magic would be drained out of him and the other two would be wandless during their stay in the house. I hope that they may see the error of their ways during their stay and will choose to return to the wizarding community as law abiding citizens." Says Fudge during an interview the day the boys were imprisoned. _

_Unfortunately the Minister's more than generous attempt at changing the path the trio has chosen proved to be unsuccessful when the prison house was destroyed and Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy escaped. _

_Shortly after the escape the International Tour Group of Exceptional Young People was kidnapped by an unimaginable number of Death Eaters. Group guide Jonas Gution says that he was stunned and considers himself lucky to be alive. He also shared that Hermione Granger, 17, escaped at the beginning of the attack with help from a red haired companion. It is no coincidence that Ms. Granger is infamously close with Potter and Weasley. _

_A ransom note was reportedly sent to Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy instructing that if the boys did not turn themselves over to the Dark Lord within a set amount of time a member of the tour group would be killed every thirty minutes until they did arrive. Renowned ex-auror Alastor Moody says that this is not likely true. _

_"The Dark Lord is not one for fairness. Never in all my years on the field was a ransom note ever sent to my department. The only possible explanation Potter and his friends managed to save the group was that they helped plan it and got cold feet in the end." Says Moody. _

_Interviews with the kidnapped teenagers were not available, which is perhaps for the best. Who's to say Potter and his gang didn't place the Imperious curse on the already traumatized teenagers. _

_The wizarding world is screaming for justice. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy cannot be allowed to walk the streets freely. They are the biggest threat since You-Know-Who. There were signs before the rise of the Dark Lord. The same signs appear to be shown in these three boys. We cannot let one evil fall just to allow three to rise it his place. Azkaban is the only way to keep ourselves safe. It's our only choice. _

Ron could hardly breathe as he stared at the article. How could this be possible? He, Harry, and Draco had _saved_ the tour group. As far as he knew Harry had defeated the Dark Lord. How could anyone think they deserved Azkaban? Ron turned to Draco, breathing heavily and painfully. He put one hand to his stomach and used the other to throw the newspaper at the blonde. At first there was no response but slowly Draco regained consciousness. He had the same lost, confused expression Ron expected he probably had on his face when he first woke up.

It took a while for Draco to notice Ron who was staring at him with wide, panic stricken eyes. It took even longer for the blonde to realize there was a newspaper sitting on his chest.

"What the…" Draco began but like Ron his voice was raspy. Ron quickly slid his water across the bedside table so that Draco could reach it. The blonde drank deeply and ended up chocking on the water. His face contorted in pain and he wrapped his arms around his chest until the pain past.

"How long has it been?" he asked finally.

"I dunno but you've got to read that!" Ron said frantically. Draco found his own wand in his bedside table as well and lit it so he could see the paper. Ron waited in a tense silence as Draco read through the article. The blonde's face reflected the terror, shock, and anger, surging through Ron's head. Finally Draco slammed the paper down on his legs.

"What the hell!?" he demanded in an angry whisper.

"Exactly!"

"Has Harry seen this?" Draco asked.

"I dunno. He's still out of it." Ron answered. The boys looked over at Harry's deathly form.

"He doesn't look too good." Draco said. Ron nodded and pushed his blankets away. Draco did the same and slowly, painstakingly the pair stood. Their legs seemed reluctant to hold either of them. They held onto the beds tightly and were breathing raggedly by the time they finally maneuvered their way over to Harry's bedside.

"Why do you think he hasn't woken up yet?" Draco asked.

"Probably the same reason we didn't." Ron said.

"Which was?"

"I dunno but I bet that's it."

Draco rolled his eyes and almost laughed but stopped when his chest tightened painfully.

"Damn." He hissed.

"You alright?" Ron asked. Draco nodded and took a steadying breath before looking back at Harry.

"How do we wake him up?" he asked. Ron shrugged and reached out to grab Harry's shoulder. He shook gently.

"Harry?" he called. Harry's head lolled but he didn't wake.

Ron and Draco shared an uncertain look.

"Harry?" Ron tried again, shaking a little harder. Quick as lightning Harry's hand shot up and grabbed Ron around the wrist, throwing it away from him. Ron and Draco took simultaneous steps backwards. Harry pitched forward and grabbed both sides of his head in agony. He was silent but his breathing was harsh and erratic.

Draco and Ron watched in silence as Harry finally seemed to get himself together. He took several deep breaths before falling back onto his pillows. His eyes were closed but Ron knew he was still awake. Ron grabbed the glass of water off of Harry's bedside table.

"Have some water." He said uncertainly. Harry's hand rose and he grabbed at the cup without opening his eyes. Ron gently pushed the cup into his friend's hand. Harry nodded his thanks before taking a deep drink. He didn't cough or sputter like Draco had but his brow furrowed as if it were painful for him to swallow.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked. Harry nodded, still with his eyes shut.

Several seconds passed.

"Should we get Madame Pomfrey?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head.

Ron realized for the first time that his legs were beginning to tremble. He looked around and found a chair close to him and sat down in it. Draco edged his way to the other side of Harry's bed and took the seat positioned there.

Finally Harry sat up and opened his eyes.

Ron felt his stomach drop.

"Harry your eyes." He said.

"Are they still red?" Harry asked.

The silence that followed answered his question. He closed his eyes again and held out his right hand which was bandaged heavily. Draco wordlessly slid the dark shades into the open hand. Harry slipped them on and shook his head.

"That doesn't make since. I feel better the I've felt since that prison house." He said.

"Maybe it's temporary." Ron reasoned. "At least your voice is normal again."

Harry nodded.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Harry you've really got to read this." Draco said. He handed his friend the newspaper.

Draco raised his own wand and held it over the paper so Harry could read it.

Ron and Draco waited in silence for their friend to read the article. When he finally finished he growled angrily and crumpled the paper into a tiny ball which he threw with all his strength across the room. He winced as pain shot through his broken rib.

"DAMN IT!" he bellowed. "If I ever see that bitch I swear I'll kill her!" he hissed.

Draco and Ron shared an alarmed look which Harry caught. He immediately took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I'm sorry. I swear I'm fine. It's just…" he shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, mate." Ron said shrugging and wondering briefly where Madame Pomfrey had gone off too.

"We feel the same way but what we need to do now is come up with some sort of plan." Draco said.

"A plan?" Ron asked.

Draco nodded.

"The ministry is looking to take us to Azkaban. Either we need to get the hell out of here or we need to figure out a way to convince the entire world that they've got it all wrong." He said.

The boys fell silent as they reflected on this.

"Question is how could we do that?" Draco said.

"We could pay the Minister a visit and demand that he take everything back." Ron suggested nastily. "If he's as scared of us as everyone else is then he'll do anything we want."

Draco and Harry laughed wryly.

"As appealing as that sounds I don't think that would do much to clear our names in the minds of the rest of the world." Harry said.

Ron shrugged.

"What if we went to Skeeter and demanded an interview?" Draco asked.

"She'd just twist our words around with that bloody quill of hers." Harry said but he looked thoughtful. "An interview might be a good idea though."

"I don't think anyone's going to want to meet with us without bringing the aurors." Ron reasoned.

"What about a press conference?" Draco asked. "We could get word out that we're going to start giving our side of the story."

"No one cares about our side of the story though. They just want us in Azkaban." Harry said.

"Good point." Draco said.

"What if we didn't send a message to anyone? What if we just show up and start telling our story?" Ron suggested.

"How would that do any good?" Harry asked.

Ron's brow furrowed in concentration.

"Actually I think that might be a good idea." Draco said suddenly. "What about this…"

Harry and Ron listened to Draco's idea and threw in a few thoughts of their own. Soon they all agreed that it was a decent enough plan.

"So when should we do this?" Ron asked.

"As soon as we're healed up a bit." Draco said wincing as he rubbed a sore spot on his chest.

"Agreed but we can't wait too long." Harry reasoned. His friends nodded.

"Alright let's get some sleep. Something tells me we'll need some sort of energy tomorrow." Ron said.

Harry and Draco laughed and agreed. Harry watched as his friends made their way back to their beds. Once they were safely in their own beds Harry pulled off his glasses and stared at them through the darkness. Questions sped through his head as he looked at their blurry shadow. Why were his eyes still messed up? Would they be like that forever? With a heavy sigh Harry set the glasses on his table and fell into an easy sleep.

Soon all three boys were asleep and the castle returned to its silent state.

Sorry about all the complications with chapters popping up all over the place. I had some troubles with the site while uploading chapters 12 and 13!!


	14. unwelcome

The next morning Harry woke to the hushed sounds of several familiar voices. At first he didn't open his eyes. He remembered the night before and doubted that his eyes had been healed over night. As indiscreetly as he could Harry reached over and grabbed his sunglasses. His fingers had just closed around them when an emotional shriek rang through his ears. Harry threw the glasses on his face just before he was gripped in a bone shattering hug. His body screamed at the embrace but he ignored the pain, returning the hug as strongly as he could. Mrs. Weasley kissed him on top of the head before practically flying over to her son's side. Ron had tears in his eyes as his mother pulled him into a much gentler but equally desperate hug.

Harry smiled at the scene and caught sight of Draco's sad smile. Harry felt sympathy for his friend and knew that the pain reflected in Draco's silvery eyes was not from his physical injuries. The distraught look turned into one of shock as Mrs. Weasley launched herself onto Draco. The blonde seemed frozen at first but slowly he returned the hug.

Suddenly the hospital wing doors opened and Mr. Weasley appeared with Ginny, Hermione, Fred, and George close behind. Mr. Weasley had gone to get them immediately after Molly had realized Harry was awake.

Now the teens stood staring at each other. Mrs. Weasley laughed through her tears.

"Well come on then get over here!" she said. Ginny practically threw herself on Harry. Hermione latched onto Ron and Fred and George went to Draco's side.

"You….had….me…so…scared…you….bloody…prat!" Ginny said, kissing a different part of Harry's face in between each word. Hermione and Ron were hugging each other as if they never planned to let go. Ron's face was buried in Hermione's hair. Hermione was crying into his shoulder.

Madame Pomfrey had been standing behind Dumbledore pacing like a caged animal muttering about people ignoring serious injuries. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore and shooed everyone away from her patients. She ran her wand over Draco first.

"You're bones healed nicely. You're ribs appear to still be a little fragile however. How do you feel?" she asked.

Draco shrugged.

"Alright." He said.

Madame Pomfrey turned and did the same for Ron. She asked the same question.

"I feel fine." He said.

Madame Pomfrey nodded and went over to Harry she ran her wand over him.

"Glasses off." She said.

Harry shook his head and looked down at his lap.

"They're still not right then?" Madame Pomfrey asked gently.

Harry shook his head again.

"Hands." The medi witch demanded. Harry held up his bandaged hands. With a flick of Pomfrey's wand the bandages were gone.

"The burn salve worked nicely. There appears to be no more damage." She said happily.

As soon as she stepped away the boys were bombarded with more hugs from everyone. Draco looked thoroughly embarrassed as well as pleased anytime someone gave him a hug.

Finally everyone settled down and drew chairs up to form a large circle. The adults stood just outside of the circle, letting the teens talk freely.

Dumbledore tapped Madame Pomfrey on the shoulder.

"What can be done for Harry's eyes?" he asked. The medi witch shrugged.

"I haven't the faintest clue what's wrong with them Albus. It made a bit more since when they were bleeding but my diagnostics show no sign of that anymore. My guess would be that it might fade with time." She said.

Dumbledore nodded.

Hermione studied each of her friends.

"You have no idea how scared we were!" she said.

"It's not like we did it on purpose." Ron argued.

"Where's everyone else?" Harry asked.

"They went home." Ginny said.

"How's Gabrielle?" Harry asked.

"She's fine." Hermione answered.

The group fell silent. Harry, Ron, and Draco looked at each other. There had to be more behind the short, vague answers.

"Is something wrong?" Draco asked.

"No." Everyone answered together.

Ron, Draco, and Harry all raised an eyebrow at their friends. Fred, George, and Ginny kept straight faces. They were used to 'the stare' but try as she might Hermione couldn't help herself.

"Oh alright. I wouldn't tell you if it wasn't so wrong! Rita Skeeter is a foul…" Hermione began.

Harry held pulled the newspaper off his table and held it up for his friends to see.

"We already know. We were just wondering if you guys were going to tell us about it." He said.

"We wanted to." Fred whispered.

"But Mum and Dad don't think you need to know." George added in the same tone.

"They don't think we need to know that the ministry wants to throw us in Azkaban?" Ron said incredulously.

Fred and George shrugged.

"It's getting really ugly out there. We had to close up shop because people kept storming it looking for you three." Fred said.

Harry grunted.

"I'm sorry you got pulled into this." He said regretfully.

"Are you kidding?" Fred and George said together.

"We got to use our inventions against a whole crowd of people to get them out!" Fred said excitedly.

"It was possibly the proudest moment of my life to see six or seven aurors walk away with pink bunny ears." George said fondly.

Ginny giggled.

"But honestly it's pretty scary. I went into Diagon Alley to see if I could find a book to help with your eyes, Harry and reporters came out of nowhere! I had to apparate back to the Burrow before finding anything."

"Reporters? What reporters?" Ron demanded.

"They're everywhere trying to get someone to say awful things about you three." Ginny said.

"We've got to do it soon." Harry said looked at Ron and Draco. Both nodded.

"Do what?" Ginny asked.

Harry looked up at the adults and found them all conversing with each other. He gestured for his friends to move closer. Once they did he explained the plan that he, Draco, and Ron had put together.

"Are you sure about this?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Of course, Hermione, we can't let people go around thinking rubbish like that." Ron said.

Hermione looked to Fred, George, and Ginny for help.

"Do you know how many things could go seriously wrong with that plan?" Ginny said.

"You aren't going to change our minds on this." Harry said firmly.

"It's just something we have to do." Draco said.

Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione all looked at each other uncertainly.

"Alright, let us know what we can do to help." Fred offered.

Harry was just about to suggest something when the hospital wing doors opened again. There was a collective gasp.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Draco demanded.

"That's enough Draco." Dumbledore said. "I'm glad you could finally make it Severus."

Snape nodded from the doorway but didn't take another step forward. He'd been released from the hospital several days ago. Dumbledore had told him everything that had happened to the boys. As worried as he was Snape had refused to come back to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore went and joined Snape at the doorway.

"Albus…" Mrs. Weasley began.

"I know Molly but Severus has renounced his old ways and…" Dumbledore began but Draco cut him off angrily.

"He didn't do it by choice! We saw the pictures. You were thrown out." He snapped angrily.

"Because I was trying to protect you." Snape said.

"That's rich. Protect me by throwing me in the dungeon!" Draco practically shouted. He hissed and rubbed his chest. The anger never left his eyes. Snape turned to Dumbledore.

"I told you I should not have come." He said.

"Now, now Severus. I'm going to suggest that you and Draco go into Madame Pomfrey's office…."

"I'm not going anywhere with him!" Draco said.

"Yes you are." Dumbledore said calmly but firmly. Draco looked to his friends for support.

"Sir," Harry began.

"I need to have a talk with you Harry so once Draco joins his godfather in Madame Pomfrey's office I'm going to ask you to follow me."

"But" Ron began.

"Ronald Weasley you mind your business." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Draco there is no reason to make a scene. Now please follow me." Dumbledore said. His smooth voice left no room for argument and recognizing defeat Draco slowly followed the men into Madame Pomfrey's office. Dumbledore ushered Draco and Snape inside and then closed the door behind them. He then gestured towards Harry.

"Watch that leg and your ankle Harry." Madame Pomfrey said.

Harry nodded and winced simultaneously as he put weight on his legs. For a moment he thought he wouldn't be able to hold his own weight but Dumbledore stepped up beside him. Harry felt self conscious leaning on the headmaster but knew that it would take a while for his legs to accept his weight again.

Dumbledore led Harry down the hall into an empty classroom.

Back in Madame Pomfrey's office Draco stood at the window with his back towards Snape. The man quickly locked the door and cast a silencing charm.

"Draco…" he began.

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say." Draco spat

"You will not speak to me that way." Snape said sharply.

"Why shouldn't I? It's how I speak to everyone else."

"I am your Godfather."

"You're my godfather because my mom asked you to be." Draco said in a dangerously low voice. "She trusted you to take care of me if something should ever happen to her. Well a damn fine job you've done Severus. She spent her life trying to keep me from following my dad's footsteps. She gave her life protecting me from him. When I came to you after her funeral I thought you would honor your word to my mum and take care of me. I thought I was going to finally get away from my father and away from everything but instead I'm in line to get my Dark Mark. Suddenly I'm breaking into Casa Novair. Next thing I know I'm battling twenty Death Eaters! Somehow that doesn't sound like something that would happen to a kid under a _real_ godfather's supervision."

"You cannot just walk away from being a Death Eater!" Snape said.

"Why not? People do it. Dumbledore would have given you your teaching job back or we could have gone somewhere else and started fresh but you didn't even consider it!" Draco shouted. He resisted the urge to rub his chest which had just given a nasty throb.

"You did not complain until Potter arrived." Snape argued.

"What difference would it have made? I already got treated the worst out of all the other trainees."

"You were treated poorly because you did not train to your fullest abilities!"

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO BE A BLOODY DEATH EATER!" Draco shouted. He coughed roughly into his hand but continued.

"You are just as bad as my father! You don't give a damn about me as long as I do exactly what you say!"

"If it had not been for me your father would have killed you as well. I insisted that you would become an asset to the Dark Lord but your miserable performances in training made me look like a fool!"

"I'm so sorry I didn't meet your expectations." Draco hissed sarcastically. In a flash Snape closed the distance between himself and Draco. He glared down at the teen.

"I lost my rank because of you. I could have been killed."

"You would have deserved it."

Snape whipped out his wand. Draco froze but the hate never left his eyes.

"Your father was right. You are far more trouble then you are worth. I should have let him kill you when he wanted to." Snape growled.

"So do it now. Come on Snape. If I deserve to die then do it. It won't get you your rank back. There's only one way out of here and if I don't come out after you it won't take long for them to figure out what happened. Then what are you going to do? You'll never make it out of the castle but by all means try it. Kill me." Draco challenged.

"If I deliver your traitorous body back I will be able to rejoin the Dark Lord."

Draco laughed coldly.

"There is no Dark Lord. Harry killed him. The war is over Snape and the light won." Draco said twisting Snape's own words from the dungeons so many months before. "Now either you let me out of here and I tell everyone that you were threatening me or you kill me and they catch you anyway. Either way you're headed to Azkaban." Draco said. He met his godfather's gaze defiantly.

"What are you going to do?" Draco hissed.

"Evincio." Snape said. He flicked his wand and ropes shot out of the tip of it, winding around Draco's torso. Draco gasped as the ropes tightened painfully. He looked up into Snape's triumphant gaze.

"I will leave here and return to the Dark Lord's side and I will turn you over to him as an offering. I know he is not dead. I would have felt it."

"You'll never get me out of the hospital wing."

Snape jerked the rope and Draco was forced to take a step closer to him. Draco tensed as Snape rested the tip of his wand on his temple.

"Unless all your friends want to watch me kill you I am certain they will let me leave quite peacefully."

Draco stared intently into his godfather's eyes.

"Bastard."

Snape jerked the end of the rope again and the ropes cut tighter into Draco's chest. The blonde gasped again but didn't cry out. Snape walked backwards to the door pulling Draco after him. The door opened and Snape pushed Draco out in front of him.

In the classroom down the hall a much calmer conversation was taking place. Dumbledore sat at one desk while Harry sat in another facing him.

"While you were unconscious I entered your mind." Dumbledore said bluntly. "The healers believed that I you may be able to tell me what exactly was keeping you conscious."

"I know you did sir. I don't remember anything that happened while you were in there but I do remember you being there."

Dumbledore nodded.

"What happened when I visited your mind is what I needed to speak with you about."

"But I just said that I don't remember anything." Harry said.

Dumbledore studied the teen over the rims of his half moon spectacles. After a few seconds Harry began to fidget slightly.

"I think you do." Dumbledore said.

For a moment Harry remained defiant but under that cool, steady gaze Harry caved.

"I saw the whole thing from somewhere else I guess and there was nothing I could do to interfere. I was just there like in my second year when I entered . I saw you arrive and start talking to the me without a scar." Harry smiled at the strangeness of the conversation. "Then my dark side showed up and started yelling about stuff. Eventually you left and I watched the most intense battle I've ever seen in my entire life. They were seriously set to kill each other and a few times my light side cut it uncomfortably close. All I could do was sit there and watch. The battle went on for what seemed like ages but then all at once it was over. I blinked a few times and at first I thought I saw my dark side standing but I realized that it was the light side." Harry took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair.

"I sound mental." He said.

Dumbledore smiled.

"What you just described is not as uncommon as you might think. When wizard goes through anything like what you have there is bound to be repercussions. Some suffer from split personalities. Others renounce their wizarding blood and go on to live as a muggle for the rest of their lives. In your case you've spent your entire wizarding life battling evil while trying to remain good, a feat not often accomplished. It is fitting that there be a battle of the two extremes to decided how you will spend the rest of your life."

Harry nodded.

"Sirius told me there's a light and dark inside all of us."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he reached out and squeezed Harry's shoulder gently.

"He is right."

Harry finally smiled but it faded quickly.

"What about my eyes?" he asked.

Dumbledore sighed.

"Unfortunately you may have to learn to live with them. I had hoped that once you returned to normal, your eyes would repair themselves as well."

Harry shrugged.

"That's alright I suppose. These glasses look loads better than my old ones anyway." He said with a grin.

Dumbledore chuckled and the pair stood.

Snape shoved Draco forward another few steps. At first everyone just stared in shock but Madame Pomfrey was quick to recover.

"What do you think you're doing!?" she exclaimed.

Snape adjusted his wand so that it was against the side of Draco's head and clearly visible to everyone. There was a collective gasp and Draco began to feel his angry confidence slipping away. What if Snape did manage to get him out?

"Everyone away from the door." Snape said. No one moved. "I said away from the door!" Snape tugged on the ropes and this time Draco couldn't hold back a pained cry from escaping his lips as pressure increased on his tender ribs.

"Severus, you can't do this." Mrs. Weasley said gently.

"Do not underestimate me." Snape answered in a low voice. He pushed Draco slowly forward.

Draco looked at Ron with panic stricken eyes and saw that the red head was edging his hand towards the bedside table. Realizing he needed to stall Draco locked his legs hoping to make it more difficult of Snape to move him. Surprised by the sudden change in pace Snape ran into Draco's back. The man growled and shoved Draco forward forcefully. Draco winced in pain but once he gained his balance he locked his legs again, this time leaning backwards against Snape who was trying to push the teen forward.

"Move!" He said, shoving Draco with enough force that the teen staggered forward, lost his footing and fell hard onto his knees. Draco ignored the severe pain shooting through his legs and looked up at Ron who'd finally gotten his wand. Just as Ron raised his wand Snape realized what was happening.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego! Stupefy." Snape shouted quickly. The stunner caught Ron in the chest, sending the teen falling onto his bed.

"RON!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. By now she and Mr. Weasley also had their wands drawn but Snape trained his own wand back on Draco.

"Do anything and I'll kill him right now." Snape said.

Draco was still on his knees and was staring at the Weasleys with wide eyes. Snape pulled on the rope, dragging Draco back to his feet. Black spots danced around Draco's vision as pain surged through his chest.

Suddenly the hospital wing doors opened. Dumbledore and Harry walked and took in the scene before them.

"What the hell?" Harry said.

Then he noticed Ron lying stunned on his bed, Snape standing with his wand aimed at Draco whose face was contorted in pain. Harry's eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"Severus what are you doing?" Dumbledore said in disbelief.

"I am getting my rightful position back. I've worked too long and too hard to let this little…" Snape said but he was cut off when he heard two stunning spells fired from behind him. He quickly twisted so that Draco took both hits. The teen fell limp so that the only thing holding him up was Snape's grip on the ropes.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked horrified. Harry looked almost as furious as Dumbledore.

"Severus think about this." Dumbledore said.

"Save your words they mean nothing to me." Snape said, rotating his head to keep everyone in his sights. "Now get out of my way."

Dumbledore and Harry didn't move. Snape tugged the rope roughly so that Draco's unconscious head rolled sideways. Anger surged through Harry's veins. Dumbledore seemed to sense this and moved to put a hand on Harry's shoulder to calm him.

"Move or you'll be responsible for his death." Snape said pointing his wand at Draco's temple. At this action Harry lost it.

"Expelliarmus!" He shouted. Snape managed to block it but he wasn't fast enough to block it and Harry who had run forward, ignoring his own injuries. Harry reached past Draco and wrapped his hands around Snape's throat. Snape, Harry, and Draco all crashed to the ground. Harry shoved Draco out of the way and slammed his knee in Snape's chest to keep the man still.

Snape raised his wand but Harry waved his hand and sent the wand flying. Harry suddenly felt himself getting dragged up and away from the man before he could do anything further. Mr. Weasley quickly stunned Snape as soon as Harry was out of the way. Harry didn't fight against Fred and George's grips as they held onto his arms.

Madame Pomfrey immediately rushed forward and cut the ropes binding Draco and levitated him onto the nearest bed.

Fred and George kept muttering how thoroughly impressed they were. Harry barely heard any of it as he focused on calming himself back down.

Mrs. Weasley revived Ron at the same moment Madame Pomfrey revived Draco. Both teens' eyes snapped open but while Ron just looked slightly confused Draco immediately cried out in pain, his hands flying to his chest.

Harry watched as Madame Pomfrey gently pulled Draco's hands away and began to press on his ribs. She pressed down once and Draco hissed.

"Well they don't appear to be broken but they are severely bruised. Unfortunately the only thing I can give you right now is a pain relieving potion." Madame Pomfrey said.

Draco nodded and focused on taking quick, shallow breaths.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, stepping away from Fred and George. Draco only nodded.

"What happened in there?" Harry asked.

Draco shook his head.

Harry opened his mouth to continuing questioning but stopped when Dumbledore laid a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked up at the headmaster but the man wasn't looking back at him.

"Draco I deeply apologize." Dumbledore said. "I had no idea…"

Draco raised a hand to stop the headmaster.

"He manipulated you… to get to me. It's not… your fault." He said breathlessly.

With a solemn nod Dumbledore squeezed Harry's shoulder and gestured for the teen to follow him back out of the hospital wing. Harry nodded.

Out in the corridor Dumbledore forced Harry to look at him.

"What happened, Harry?" he asked. Harry shrugged.

"He stunned Ron, he used Draco as a shield to protect his sorry arse and I guess I got angry."

"I thought you told me that the dark part of you lost the battle." Dumbledore said bluntly.

Harry nodded once.

"It did but that doesn't mean it's completely gone."

For a moment the pair stood in silence. Harry took a deep breath.

"I didn't mean to lose it like that but I promise it won't happen again."

Dumbledore considered the teen before nodding.

"Let's hope not."

With that the pair returned to the hospital wing. Mr. Weasley had levitated Snape into a chair and used rope to bind the stunned man into place. Dumbledore pulled out his own wand.

"I will be taking him to the Ministry myself." He said.

As Dumbledore left with Snape levitating in front of him, an uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Suddenly Harry yawned widely and dragged himself over to his bed.

"Are you alright Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked she was slightly unnerved by the sudden mood change in the raven haired boy.

Harry nodded and flopped back against his pillows.

"I'm just really tired." He said.

As expected Madame Pomfrey jumped in immediately.

"Alright all of you OUT! Shoo. My patients need rest and relaxation. Come back tomorrow."

Everyone said their hurried good-byes before Madame Pomfrey finally got them herded out of the hospital wing. Finally the medi witch turned back to the trio.

"Do any of you need anything?" she asked.

When all three boys shook their heads she nodded.

"Alright. I will be in my office if you need anything, just call." She said.

The boys watched as she disappeared into her office. When the door clicked closed Ron shot a silencing charm towards her door so that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't hear them talking. Harry slid off his bed and went to sit in one of the chairs beside Draco's bed.

"What happened in there?" he asked.

Draco shook his head. His breathing had returned to normal and the potion helped so that it didn't cause him any pain.

"I told you I didn't want to talk about it."

"Well I think you need to." Harry argued.

"I don't think it's really any of your business." Draco snapped.

Harry let the comment slide.

"Did it have to do with the fact that he used Crucio on you twice?" Ron asked suddenly.

Draco's eyes flashed with anger and embarrassment as he turned on the red head. Harry felt his jaw drop in shock.

"He did what?"

"Nothing."

"It was right before you showed up Harry. Snape was telling Draco how You-Know-Who was planning to kill you so that he could steal all your powers. Draco kept sticking up for you and Snape got angry." Ron explained.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Harry asked.

"Would you go around telling everyone something like that?" Draco demanded.

Harry fell quiet knowing the answer to that.

A heavy silence covered the group.

Ron reached for the newspaper again.

"Erm well maybe we should come up with where we're going to try and do our plan."

"Good idea." Harry said quickly.

Draco remained silent.

Ron began flipping through the pages of the newspaper. For the next several minutes the rustling of paper was the only sound in the entire room. Suddenly he slammed his finger down in the middle of a page somewhere in the middle of the paper.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed. "There's a Weird Sisters' concert in three days. Someone from the WWN is going to be there. Reporters will be all over the place just like they always are. It's perfect."

Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright then we've got three days to get everything ready." He said.

Ron cast a worried look over at Draco who was staring at the far wall.

"Do you think you'll be alright by then Draco?" Ron asked uncertainly.

Draco nodded wordlessly.

Ron and Harry shared a worried glance but didn't comment. Eventually they went to their own beds and the trio sat in complete silence until Madame Pomfrey came back several hours later saying that it was time for them to eat.


	15. WWN

Three days later Harry, Ron, and Draco sat in Grimmauld Place with Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny.

"Alright," Harry said taking a deep breath. "Everyone knows how many things could go wrong with this problem right?"

His friends rolled their eyes.

"We've been over this a million times! Everyone's already in place and the concert started ages ago." Ginny said from where she sat beside a small radio.

"I know but…" Harry argued.

"But nothing mate. Everything's already set up. Now let's go or we'll miss the intermission." Fred said firmly as he stood. Slowly everyone stood. Finally only Harry was sitting. He looked up at all his friends individually.

"Thank you guys." He said.

They all nodded. Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione headed out the front door. Harry, Ron, and Draco moved towards the floo so that they could go to the Burrow before apparating away.

Minutes later Ron, Draco, and Harry stood alone outside the Burrow. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were out for the afternoon and had no idea what the kids were up to. As far as they knew the boys were still at Hogwarts.

Ron took a deep breath and grinned nervously.

"Our first concert, how exciting." He said.

Harry laughed but Draco barely smiled. The blonde had been quiet since his incident with his godfather but whenever Harry or Ron asked him about it he would say that he was fine and leave the room.

Harry looked at his watch.

"Alright the band should be taking a break in a minute. We'd better get going."

His friends nodded and all three of them took deep breaths to calm their racing hearts. Harry apparated away first with Draco and Ron close behind.

The trio arrived a block away from the park where the Weird Sisters were supposed to be playing. The screams from the fans was deafening.

"Sounds like the entire bloody world is over there!" Ron said.

Harry nodded.

"That's what we'd planned for right?" he asked.

Ron agreed and after a moment the trio began their journey towards the park.

Right as they reached it the lead singer told the crowd that the band was going to take a short break. The fans groaned with disappointment and began to scatter as everyone went to get drinks. Harry, Ron, and Draco could see the stage from where they stood.

"Here goes." Ron said.

Together the trio apparated for the last time.

From their places in the crowd Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Gabrielle, Julie, Andre, and the rest of the tour group pulled out their wands and moved either towards the stage or to the outside of the massive crowd. They just reached the front of the stage when Harry, Ron, and Draco appeared. At first no one else in the crowd noticed them and the boys were silent and almost motionless as they stood on the stage. They heard two tour kids stun a couple security guards who'd noticed what was happening.

Suddenly one young woman who was only three rows from the stage let out a blood curdling scream. Heads spun around in her direction and followed her pointing figure towards the stage. Chaos erupted. People screamed and began trying to run out of the park but the tour group kids threw up shields to stop them. More panic spread and soon spells were shooting towards the stage. Hermione and the group that was stationed in front of the stage raised their wands.

"PROTEGO!" they shouted. A huge shield shot into the air to cover them and the stage. Finally Harry stepped forward and using a magnifying spell on his voice, shouted over the crowd.

"Please calm down! We're not going to hurt you!" he called.

Unfortunately his magnified voice sounded more threatening than soothing and people began to fight even harder to get out of the park. The tour kids were struggling to hold them back. Harry turned to Ron and Draco.

"I don't think this is going to work." He said.

Ron shrugged but Draco shook his head and took a step closer to the edge of the stage. He put his wand to his throat.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted. His voice boomed and even echoed slightly. The sound was loud enough to shock most of the crowd into submission.

"You've all had plenty of chances to say whatever you liked about us these past few days. Now it's our time to talk and you'd all better listen or we'll really give you something to be afraid of." Draco demanded.

By now those who'd still been struggling to get away froze.

"Now I want all of you to look at one another. Go on look at each other." Draco waited as the crowd reluctantly obeyed. "Do you see the fear on each other's face? Do you realize who you're scared of?"

Draco side stepped and gestured towards Harry.

"He looks different without the glasses but you know who he is. If you can't seem to remember I'll give you a few hints." Draco walked back and forth across the stage as he spoke. "He's saved every one of your sorry arses seven times. Because of him you're not bowing down to the Dark Lord right now. Thanks to him you can walk the streets of Diagon Alley again without the fear of getting attacked because a few days ago he killed that Dark Lord that you would be bowing to. Although your actions say otherwise I'm willing to bet that none of you so thick you don't know who I'm talking about."

Draco stared intensely at the crowd.

"But according to what you people have been saying Harry Potter is the next You-Know-Who. The way I've read it Harry belongs in Azkaban. Apparently he's destroyed one evil so that the three of us can rise in its place." Draco shook his head in disgust.

"Seven times Harry's risked his life to save yours whether or not you deserved it. Four times now people have turned their back as soon as the papers say something against him. This is the one time that we refuse to sit down and take it."

Ron came up beside Draco and rested a hand on his shoulder for a moment to signal that he had something to say. Draco nodded and went to stand beside Harry. Ron took a moment to study the still stunned crowd.

"Courage is something I've seen a lot. I've been Harry's best friend since our first year in school and he's led me through the most trying, terrifying, incredible moments of my entire life. He always runs head first into anything as long as he thinks it'll keep people safe, whether or not he knows them. Harry shows one kind of courage. Draco shows another.

"I doubt any of you out there would have given Draco a chance because his last name is Malfoy. Whether you've heard of that name directly or indirectly you've heard of it and you, like me, have learned to hate it. Draco knew how people felt about him. He knew he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps but he showed the courage and turned away from that life. Draco risked his own life to save Harry's when their paths crossed at the Dark Lord's lair."

"Exactly! What were they both doing there if they weren't helping plot evil stuff?"

Ron scanned the crowd until he found who he guessed had spoken. A tall, brown haired man clinging to his young daughter's hand stood towards the middle of the crowd. His expression was angry and defiant.

"Harry lost his memory when he was attacked while leaving his home last summer." Ron said bluntly. "The Death Eater's captured him and warped his mind to make him think he was one of them." Ron watched with satisfaction as the man's face paled several shades.

"What about the other one?" the man demanded.

"Draco's mother was killed by his father because she refused to allow Draco to become a Death Eater. Draco was thrown into his position and had nowhere else to go besides with his father."

The last of the color left the man's face as he processed this new information. Several people in the crowd shifted uncomfortably.

"But the papers said…"

"I don't give a damn what the papers say neither should you!" Harry shouted as he stepped forward. Ron went to stand with Draco.

"Papers and magazines like the _Daily Prophet_ and _Witch Weekly _are not used to inform you about anything. Its purpose isn't to give you real facts. No, the _Prophet's _purpose is to destroy anyone and everyone. Ron has been by my side through everything I've ever done. He's loyal, truthful, and along with Draco a HUGE reason why you all are standing here right now and not thrown in a dungeon somewhere with Death Eater's as your guards. There's been a lot of talk in the papers about Ron disgracing his family. If any of you have ever met a Weasley you know what a tight family they are. You know that there is nothing any of them could possibly do to make any member of their family turn on them.

"When those bloody papers came out accusing Ron, Draco, and me of being Death Eater's the Weasley's stood behind all of us. They helped us. They unlike you were not so quick to jump to conclusions that if you really thought about it don't even make any sense."

"They do to make sense!" a woman with jet black hair and multi-colored streaks all through it shouted. "You all have spent so much time fighting the dark side that you decided you wanted to try it out for yourselves because you saw how much power was on their side."

Very few people murmured their agreement. Others looked at the woman as if she'd just announced that the sky was purple.

Off to the right the band was trying to get back on stage but looked reluctant to cross Harry, Ron, and Draco. Security wizards were swarming all over the place, trying to get onto the stage but the tour kids were holding them back.

"Power? You think all of this is about power?" Harry asked incredulously.

"What else would it be about?" a man who'd supported the black haired woman shouted.

"First of all the only power the dark side had was Voldemort." Harry said. Everybody in the crowd flinched violently at the name, several even screamed. Harry rolled his eyes.

"If you want to believe it's about power than think about this. The light side has Albus Dumbledore; the single most powerful wizard of our time, the Order of the Phoenix; an organization that has existed since Voldemort's first reign of terror, and a majority of the wizarding world behind it. Now honestly if I was in this for the power it's not hard to see which side I would choose."

Harry took a deep breath and studied the crowd for a moment.

"I don't know what effect any of this has had on any of you or if it's had any effect at all." He said.

"Originally Draco, Harry, and I planned to come here to ask for your forgiveness. We planned to explain everything that's happened this summer in detail so that you could truly decide how you felt about us." Ron shook his head.

"But standing here, looking out at all of you and seeing what we had to go through just to get you to listen to us for less than fifteen minutes, I think we've realized that we don't want your forgiveness. Not this way at least." Draco said.

"Maybe in time you'll see how stupid you're all being." Harry shrugged. "Maybe you won't. Either way it's not really our problem anymore."

"We don't care what gets printed in the papers anymore. We couldn't care less what any of you think. We also accept your warm thank you's for destroying the most evil man to walk the earth." Ron said. Harry and Draco smirked.

"And to all of you who are hoping to hear that we've been thrown into Azkaban. Don't hold your breath." Draco put in.

Ron and Harry grinned at him and then looked out over the crowd for one last time before all three of them apparated away. As the boys disappeared the tour group kids, Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione apparated away as well.

The crowd stared at the stage in silent shock. The Weird Sisters seemed hesitant about continuing with the show.

"What rubbish." The black haired woman with multi colored streaks in her hair shouted. A red haired woman with ice blue eyes glared at her.

"Are you deaf or just stupid?" she snapped.

"Excuse me?"

The crowd began to separate slightly and form a large circle around the witches.

"Did you not hear anything those boys said? They're obviously innocent." The red head snapped.

"The only obvious thing around here is your idiocy."

"She's right! It really doesn't make much sense for any of them to lie." A blonde haired man said stepping forward.

"Of course it does. They want to save themselves from Azkaban." The brown haired man snapped. His daughter clung to his neck, looking slightly afraid.

"But they destroyed the Dark Lord! That much must be true." The red headed witch said.

"They're liars! All three of them!" a woman shouted.

"No their not!" another man shouted.

The crowd swiftly broke in half behind the black haired witch and the red headed one. Shouting matches broke out quickly and soon the screams that were heard a block away were no longer those of fans enjoying a concert.

Harry sat in the Dumbledore's office with Ron and Draco. Hermione and the others were down in the kitchens and wandering the castle since Dumbledore had requested some alone time with the boys.

"I am very proud of all of you." He said beaming. "I heard everything over the WWN and I must say you've started quite the uproar."

Dumbledore reached under his desk and pulled up an old looking radio. He set it down and after a few seconds of fiddling with the dial voices rang out clearly.

"Today a concert of the popular wizarding band The Weird Sisters was interrupted when the Ministry's most wanted wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy appeared on stage during intermission." The reporter witch said. "Guarding them were the ten young witches and wizards Potter and his friends reportedly kidnapped but then rescued less than a week ago. The crowd of concert watchers was quickly surrounded. Security wizards were unable to reach the stage to pull Malfoy, Weasley, and Potter away. After everyone was unable to do anything the three boys began a speech that has gotten many in the wizarding world questioning just how much of the information we've received over the past several weeks holds true.

"Though Weasley, Potter, and Malfoy gave very little straight forward information their blunt courage and disregard for personal safety quickly got the attention of their audience. One member of the crowd, Allison Doward had this to say."

"When I first saw who was on stage I was terrified. I didn't know what to expect but it certainly wasn't a speech like that. Those three spoke about each other like…like…I want to say brothers but I would never say anything like that about anyone in my family."

"Ms. Doward isn't the only one surprised by the effect the boys' surprise appearance had on them. Shortly after the Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy disapperated a large fight broke out among the crowd. One side refused to accept the boys' words as the truth."

'"They're lying, evil, creatures of You-Know-Who's making.' Says Violet Flan."

"The other side of the fight supported the boys whole heartedly. Witches and wizards that made up this group say they wish that Malfoy, Potter, and Weasley would forgive them and accept their gratitude."

"After the fight was broken up by ministry officials the trio supporters immediately began to rally against the Minister of Magic demanding that all charges be dropped. Fudge refused and quickly apparated away from the crowd."

"So WWN listeners I leave you now with this to consider. Should we disregard everything we've read these past few months and forgive Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy for things they may or may not have done? Is it in everyone's best interest just to move past these events and leave no one to blame? Or should someone take the blame whether it is the three boys or the media? This is Dianna Ingles and you're listening to the WWN."

Alright this is a horrible place to stop but I do have a third story idea in my head and I'm going to start it from here. Thanks for reading!!


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